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Free RBC Practice Questions

10 free, exam-style Registered Broadcast Captioner (RBC) (RBC) practice questions with answers and explanations. No signup required. Work through them below, then take the full free RBC practice test to study every exam domain.

The RBC exam has 50 questions and runs 1 hour.

Question 1

To earn the RBC-M, a candidate must pass the Dictation Skills Test with a minimum accuracy of:

  1. 97.5%
  2. 95%
  3. 96%
  4. 99%
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: A - 97.5%

Question 2

A captioner is assigned to a station's live 6 o'clock newscast. Which caption display mode is standard for this type of live programming?

  1. Pop-on captions, timed so each full block appears precisely with the speaker
  2. Paint-on captions, which reveal each character one at a time left to right
  3. Roll-up captions, which scroll upward as each new line is added
  4. Offline captions prepared and encoded into the video before it airs
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: C - Roll-up captions, which scroll upward as each new line is added

Question 3

Under the FCC's caption quality rules, captions running about 9 seconds behind the spoken audio for most of a newscast MOST directly fails which of the four quality standards?

  1. Synchronicity
  2. Accuracy
  3. Completeness
  4. Placement
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: A - Synchronicity

Question 4

The RBC-M standard requires that the drop-down rate - the delay between the spoken word and the caption appearing on screen - be no more than:

  1. 2 seconds
  2. 5 seconds
  3. 10 seconds
  4. 15 seconds
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: B - 5 seconds

Question 5

During a live broadcast, raw steno such as "STKPWHR" suddenly appears on screen in place of a word. This is BEST described as:

  1. A mistranslate, where the software produces a real but incorrect word
  2. An untranslate, where the input was not matched to a dictionary entry
  3. A placement error affecting where the text appears on screen
  4. A synchronicity error affecting the timing of the caption
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: B - An untranslate, where the input was not matched to a dictionary entry

Question 6

Which U.S. law extended closed captioning obligations to full-length internet video when that programming had previously aired on U.S. television with captions?

  1. The 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA)
  2. The Americans with Disabilities Act, which broadly prohibits disability discrimination
  3. The Telecommunications Act of 1996, which first mandated television captioning
  4. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, governing federal electronic accessibility
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: A - The 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA)

Question 7

At 4:00 p.m., a captioner learns tonight's newscast will repeatedly feature a newly appointed official named "Dr. Ngozi Okonkwo-Reyes." The MOST important preparation step before air is to:

  1. Trust the recognition engine to spell the unfamiliar name phonetically during the live broadcast
  2. Plan to abbreviate the name to initials each time it is spoken so errors are less visible
  3. Add the name to the dictionary in advance so it translates correctly and consistently
  4. Request that the anchor avoid saying the full name on air to reduce the risk
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: C - Add the name to the dictionary in advance so it translates correctly and consistently

Question 8

In a television newscast, the term "package" refers to:

  1. The set of caption and transcript files delivered to the station after the broadcast ends
  2. The bundle of encoding and audio equipment shipped to a remote broadcast site
  3. The block of commercial advertisements aired between two news segments
  4. A pre-produced, self-contained reporter segment played during the newscast
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: D - A pre-produced, self-contained reporter segment played during the newscast

Question 9

Mid-broadcast, a captioner hears a politician make a statement the captioner strongly personally disagrees with. According to professional ethics, the captioner should:

  1. Caption the statement verbatim, without alteration or personal judgment
  2. Soften the wording so the statement reads as less inflammatory to viewers on screen
  3. Omit the statement entirely, since airing it may embarrass or misrepresent the speaker
  4. Insert a bracketed editorial note clarifying that the captioner does not share the view
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: A - Caption the statement verbatim, without alteration or personal judgment

Question 10

What is the PRIMARY function of a caption encoder in the broadcast signal chain?

  1. It converts the captioner's dictated voice into on-screen text using recognition
  2. It measures caption accuracy in real time against the program's audio track
  3. It stores the finished caption file for the station to retrieve and re-air later
  4. It inserts the caption data into the video signal so captions can be displayed
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: D - It inserts the caption data into the video signal so captions can be displayed

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