The backward differentiation formula (BDF) method is applied to a three-dimensional reactor kinetics calculation for efficient yet accurate transient analysis with adaptive time step control. The coarse mesh finite difference (CMFD) formulation is used for an efficient implementation of the BDF method that does not require excessive memory to store old information from previous time steps. An iterative scheme to update the nodal coupling coefficients through higher order local nodal solutions is established in order to make it possible to store only node average fluxes of the previous five time points. An adaptive time step control method is derived using two order solutions, the fifth and the fourth order BDF solutions, which provide an estimate of the solution error at the current time point. The performance of the BDF- and CMFD-based spatial kinetics calculation and the adaptive time step control scheme is examined with the NEACRP control rod ejection and rod withdrawal benchmark problems. The accuracy is first assessed by comparing the BDF-based results with those of the Crank-Nicholson method with an exponential transform. The effectiveness of the adaptive time step control is then assessed in terms of the possible computing time reduction in producing sufficiently accurate solutions that meet the desired solution fidelity.