Past free-response questions

2026

• Question 1 · Article Analysis Question · 7 points Locked away phones and student anxiety Read a study where students heard their phone ring while it sat beside them or in a locked box, then answer six parts on method, how anxiety was measured, the means, ethics, generalizing, and the fear of missing out. Unit 5, Unit 4
• Question 2 · Evidence-Based Question · 7 points Spacing out study to remember more Make a claim about what helps people recall newly learned material, then support it with cited evidence from two of three studies on spaced versus crammed learning and explain each with a different psychology concept. Unit 2

2025, Set 1

• Question 1 · Article Analysis Question · 7 points Misleading summaries and eyewitness memory Read a study where people watched a staged theft and then read summaries with different amounts of false detail, then answer six parts on method, measures, results, ethics, who the findings apply to, and memory distortion. Unit 2
• Question 2 · Evidence-Based Question · 7 points Do audiences help or hurt performance? Take a position on whether having other people around makes performance better, then back it with evidence from two of three studies (people, baboons and a vigilance task) and explain each with a different psychology concept. Unit 4

2025, Set 2

• Question 1 · Article Analysis Question · 7 points How dogs respond to people crying Read a study of dogs reacting to owners and strangers who cry, laugh or chat, then answer six parts on method, measures, the means, ethics, how far results generalize, and whether the dogs show discrimination learning. Unit 3
• Question 2 · Evidence-Based Question · 7 points When do bystanders step in to help? Make a claim about a social condition that makes helping in an emergency more likely, then support it with cited evidence from two of three studies and explain each piece with a different psychology concept. Unit 4

2024, Set 1

This exam had a Concept Application question and a Research Design question, worth 7 points each, in 50 minutes. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · Concept Application · 7 points A preschooler's day at a science museum Apply ideas from child development, memory, the brain and vision to a young child who plays with marbles, gets lost briefly and later draws the trip. Unit 3, Unit 2, Unit 1
• Question 2 · Research Design · 7 points Does paper color help students remember? Analyze a professor's study of yellow versus white handouts using a graph of quiz scores, naming the measure, the groups and what makes it an experiment, then link three ideas to quiz performance. Unit 2, Unit 4

2024, Set 2

This exam had a Concept Application question and a Research Design question, worth 7 points each, in 50 minutes. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · Concept Application · 7 points A basketball final and a team reunion Show how depth cues, body sense, motivation and an audience could help a player win, then how memory and bias could shape her story of the game a decade later. Unit 4, Unit 2
• Question 2 · Research Design · 7 points Motivational statements and test anxiety Interpret a graph from a study where students read upbeat or neutral statements before a test, then use control beliefs, the stress response and stored knowledge to explain low vocabulary scores. Unit 5, Unit 4, Unit 3

2023, Set 1

This exam had a Concept Application question and a Research Design question, worth 7 points each, in 50 minutes. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · Concept Application · 7 points A dad reacts to a broken lamp Apply seven terms, from sound loudness and hunger hormones to group helping, blame and parenting style, to a parent who finds a smashed lamp and punishes his kids. Unit 4, Unit 3
• Question 2 · Research Design · 7 points Manager styles and electric car sales Read a table of monthly car sales at three stores with different bosses, explain why the study is not an experiment, find a mean, spot a confound, and tie in the halo effect, workplace psychology and reinforcement. Unit 4, Unit 3

2023, Set 2

This exam had a Concept Application question and a Research Design question, worth 7 points each, in 50 minutes. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · Concept Application · 7 points A new student joins the debate team Apply seven terms, including self-focused bias, personality traits, punishment, Piaget's last stage and confidence in one's own ability, to a senior settling into a new school. Unit 4, Unit 3
• Question 2 · Research Design · 7 points Advertising a mobile game and testing sales Connect three persuasion and social thinking ideas to a game ad campaign, then interpret a study comparing watching versus playing the game, including spread of scores, random assignment and the p value. Unit 4

2022, Set 1

This exam had two free-response questions to answer in 50 minutes, a Concept Application question and a Research Design question, each scored out of 7 points. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · Concept Application · 7 points Skateboarder performing for a crowd and selling online Apply three concepts to a skater doing tricks while onlookers cheer, then apply four more to explain why his online video and free trial offer win customers. Unit 4, Unit 1, Unit 2
• Question 2 · Research Design · 7 points Bystanders, crowd size and helping, from a graph Read a graph of passersby against helpers to judge a bystander hypothesis, name the right statistic and a confound risk, give the independent variable of a follow-up experiment, and tie three concepts to helping. Unit 4, Unit 3

2022, Set 2

This exam had two free-response questions to answer in 50 minutes, a Concept Application question and a Research Design question, each scored out of 7 points. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · Concept Application · 7 points Horror movie night, a startle and a mob Connect arousal, motor neurons and touch processing to a viewer who gets startled and spills a hot drink, explain three group biases in the film's angry villagers, and say why a claim about acting out a dream while sleepwalking is probably wrong. Unit 4, Unit 1
• Question 2 · Research Design · 7 points Shirt prices and judged quality, from a scatterplot From a web study where people rated shirts at different prices, state the hypothesis, the operational definition and the relationship shown, explain the limit on generalizing, then link three concepts to how shoppers see the shirts. Unit 4, Unit 1, Unit 2

2021, Set 1

This exam had two free-response questions to answer in 50 minutes, one applying psychology concepts to a scenario and one on research methodology, each scored out of 7 points. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · Content Application · 7 points Writing a research paper, and grading the stack Show how five concepts, from self-efficacy to efferent neurons, could shape a student's work on a long paper, then how two more could affect her teacher's grading. Unit 4, Unit 2, Unit 3
• Question 2 · Research Methodology · 7 points Math teacher's problem-solving tips study, from a table Using a table of quiz grades for two groups of sixth graders, name the dependent variable, say how to turn the study into a true experiment, compare modes, pick the needed central tendency measure, find the ethics problem, and connect metacognition and levels of processing. Unit 2

2021, Set 2

This exam had two free-response questions to answer in 50 minutes, a Concept Application question and a Research Design question, each scored out of 7 points. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · Concept Application · 7 points A video gamer, his habits and his parents Apply five concepts to a teen's skill-based gaming with online friends, then describe a fixed-ratio plan his parents could use to get college applications done and how a psychoanalytic therapist would apply free association in working with him. Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 1, Unit 5
• Question 2 · Research Design · 7 points Mental imagery and word-pair recall experiment For an experiment comparing recall of word pairs with and without imagery instructions, name the independent variable and control group, defend the design, interpret two standard deviations, spot the ethics problem, and link the primacy effect and levels of processing. Unit 2

2019, Set 1

This exam had two free-response questions to answer in 50 minutes, together worth one third of the total score, and each question was scored out of 7 points. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · 7 points Masks, groups and extra candy, from a graph From a graph of how often trick-or-treaters took more candy, give the operational definition of the outcome, judge both hypotheses, explain the limits on generalizing and why it is not naturalistic observation, then apply three concepts to the children's choices. Unit 4, Unit 3
• Question 2 · 7 points Returning to library work after decades Relate seven concepts, including altruism, Broca's area and self-actualization, to a man who leaves a dull office job to volunteer at the library where he once worked. Unit 4, Unit 2

2019, Set 2

This exam had two free-response questions to answer in 50 minutes, together worth one third of the total score, and each question was scored out of 7 points. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · 7 points Testing an OCD drug, then debating it Explain what a compulsion is, why random assignment and a placebo group help show cause and effect in a drug trial, and how four concepts could shape a conference group's talk about the findings. Unit 5, Unit 4
• Question 2 · 7 points College finals week and a group project Give concrete ways four concepts could help a college student do well on exams, then ways three others could hurt his part in a group project. Unit 2, Unit 4

2018

This exam had two free-response questions to answer in 50 minutes, together worth one third of the total score, and each question was scored out of 7 points. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · 7 points Starring in the school play Explain how four concepts could help a nervous student actor perform well and how three others could get in her way. Unit 2, Unit 4, Unit 1
• Question 2 · 7 points Teen stress, sick days and risky behavior Draw a conclusion from a graph of stress and illness absences, tie it to the exhaustion stage of stress, give a reason an ethics board might reject an experiment, then explain social and health concepts behind risky and healthy teen behavior. Unit 5, Unit 4

2017

This exam had two free-response questions to answer in 50 minutes, together worth one third of the total score, and the directions asked for a reasoned answer using psychological terms rather than a list of facts. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · 7 points Eating behavior and a framing experiment Explain how a drive theory, outside cues, the brain's reward chemistry and watching others each shape eating, then read a two-group study on how obesity is framed: define its outcome measure, say why it counts as an experiment, and state the conclusion it supports. Unit 4, Unit 3, Unit 1
• Question 2 · 7 points A music scholarship audition day Show how seven ideas, from a stage of the stress response and unconscious memory to hearing structures, body-sense cortex, inner drive and an outgoing personality trait, could each have helped a student succeed during a long audition visit. Unit 5, Unit 2, Unit 4, Unit 1

2016

This exam had two free-response questions to answer in 50 minutes, together worth one third of the total score, and the directions asked for a reasoned answer using psychological terms rather than a list of facts. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · 7 points A cross-country drive to college Apply four concepts to explain how a student managed a long road trip, then apply three more, including body clocks, a learned fear and missing things in plain view, to explain what went wrong along the way. Unit 2, Unit 1, Unit 3
• Question 2 · 7 points Memorizing world capitals for a quiz Explain how four ideas, such as spacing out study and a personality trait, could help a student learn every country's capital for an oral quiz, and how three others, such as new learning blocking old learning, could get in his way. Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 4

2015

This exam had two free-response questions to answer in 50 minutes, together worth one third of the total score, and the directions asked for a reasoned answer using psychological terms rather than a list of facts. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · 8 points Testing whether sugar causes hyperactivity Explain why people might readily believe a flawed correlational study linking party snacks to hyperactive children, design a follow-up experiment with a hypothesis, measure and random assignment, and sketch a labeled bar graph showing no effect. Unit 2
• Question 2 · 7 points A couple buying and moving into a house Connect brain and problem-solving ideas to a careful house purchase, group effort and stress ideas to a rushed move, and three more concepts, including getting used to a repeated stimulus, to life in the new neighborhood. Unit 4, Unit 2, Unit 5

2014

This exam had two free-response questions to answer in 50 minutes, together worth one third of the total score, and the directions asked for a reasoned answer using psychological terms rather than a list of facts. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · 7 points Power and how tall people see themselves Work through a two-condition study on feeling powerful and drawing a self image: describe the conditions and the measure, graph the group means with labeled axes, justify the causal claim, explain what a significant result means here, and say why debriefing was needed. Unit 4
• Question 2 · 7 points A struggling first year at university Give examples of how three earlier experiences, including a parenting style and a stage of identity development, could affect a new college student, then how four more, such as creative thinking and belief in one's own ability, could help him do better. Unit 3, Unit 4, Unit 2

2013

This exam had two free-response questions to answer in 50 minutes, together worth one third of the total score, and the directions asked for a reasoned answer using psychological terms rather than a list of facts. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · 7 points Pizza coupons as a reading incentive Use research and motivation ideas to argue against a plan that rewards students for reading, explain how a reward schedule could make the plan work better, and show how four ideas about belief, persuasion and memory could shape a reader's response to it. Unit 3, Unit 4, Unit 2
• Question 2 · 6 points A flawed massed versus spaced study experiment Find the outcome measure, the ethics problem and the design problem in a memory study comparing study schedules, say how to fix each and what a significant difference means, then explain how age-related reasoning ability and time of day could affect the results. Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 1

2012

This exam had two free-response questions to answer in 50 minutes, together worth one third of the total score, and the directions asked for a reasoned answer using psychological terms rather than a list of facts. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · 7 points Choosing a college and adjusting to it Relate four ideas, such as a quick judgment shortcut and remembering to do things later, to a student's choice of colleges, then three more, including an anxiety disorder and judging others by one's own culture, to how well she settles in. Unit 2, Unit 4, Unit 5
• Question 2 · 7 points Seven pairs of location and process For each of seven pairs, explain how where something sits or is placed, such as receptor cells in the eye, a brain region or other people in the room, affects the process it is paired with. Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 4

2011

This exam had two free-response questions to answer in 50 minutes, together worth one third of the total score, and the directions asked for a reasoned answer using psychological terms rather than a list of facts. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · 7 points Feedback and recognizing incomplete figures Name the variables in a study of whether feedback helps people identify partial shapes, explain the role of three vision and perception ideas in the task, and explain how random assignment and statistical significance bear on its conclusions. Unit 2, Unit 1
• Question 2 · 8 points Preparing for a first Japanese exam Describe how four ideas, from a speech area of the brain to grouping information, support a student learning Japanese, how two could hold her back, and how two more explain her confidence that she did well. Unit 3, Unit 2, Unit 1

2010

This exam had two free-response questions to answer in 50 minutes, together worth one third of the total score, and the scoring guidelines give each question 7 points, one per concept. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · 7 points Seven paired concepts linked by examples For each of seven term pairs, such as functional fixedness with problem solving or myelin with the neural impulse, the student gives an example showing how the first term shapes the second. Unit 3, Unit 2, Unit 1
• Question 2 · 7 points Explaining a school pep rally with psychology Using a pep rally scenario, the student applies seven concepts, including conformity, deindividuation, figure and ground, and the sympathetic nervous system, to explain what the students do and perceive. Unit 4, Unit 2, Unit 1

2009

This exam had two free-response questions to answer in 50 minutes, together worth one third of the total grade, and the scoring guidelines give each question 7 points, one per concept. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · 7 points How seven concepts affect learning a dance routine Two dancers are preparing for a competition, and the student gives an applied example of how each of seven concepts, from proactive interference to the vestibular system and introversion, could change how they perform. Unit 4, Unit 3, Unit 2, Unit 1
• Question 2 · 7 points A teen driver's road test and written test The student explains how four concepts such as the cerebellum and observational learning could affect a student's road test, then how three more, including predictive validity and semantic memory, relate to his written test score. Unit 3, Unit 1, Unit 2

2007

This exam had two free-response questions to answer in 50 minutes, together worth one third of the total grade, and the scoring guidelines give each question 8 points. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · 8 points Concepts that help or hurt making new friends A new student joins a club hoping to make friends. The student shows how four concepts could help her and four others, such as in-group bias and circadian rhythm, could get in her way. Unit 4, Unit 3
• Question 2 · 8 points Schizophrenia symptoms, causes, drugs and DID The student names symptoms of schizophrenia, gives genetic evidence and the dopamine hypothesis, explains how antipsychotic drugs act at the synapse and one risk they carry, and tells schizophrenia apart from dissociative identity disorder. Unit 5, Unit 1

2006

This exam had two free-response questions to answer in 50 minutes, together worth one third of the total grade; the scoring guidelines give Question 1 nine points and Question 2 eight points. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · 9 points Case study, correlation and experiment on a vitamin The student gives an advantage and a disadvantage of case studies, correlational studies and experiments, then explains the key feature of how each method would test whether a vitamin improves memory. Unit 2
• Question 2 · 8 points Psychology behind a stressful car purchase An anxious buyer is choosing a car, and the student explains how eight concepts, including the central route to persuasion, heuristics, rationalization and the foot-in-the-door effect, could sway her choice. Unit 4, Unit 2

2005

This exam had two free-response questions to answer in 50 minutes, together worth one third of the total grade; the scoring guidelines give Question 1 eight points and Question 2 nine points. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · 8 points Eight ways thinking and perception go wrong For eight concepts such as the availability heuristic, groupthink and nonrandom assignment, the student writes an example showing how each one leads to a mistaken perception, belief or conclusion, and explains the link. Unit 2, Unit 4, Unit 1, Unit 3
• Question 2 · 9 points Three debates: labels, language and hypnosis For diagnostic labeling, how children acquire language, and what hypnosis is, the student lays out an argument on each side, then picks a side for each and backs it with research evidence. Unit 5, Unit 3

2004

This exam had two free-response questions to answer in 50 minutes, together worth one third of the total grade, and the scoring guidelines give each question 8 points. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · 8 points Critiquing a study of stress and illness Given a flawed study linking athletes' stress to sick days, the student names the method, states both operational definitions, judges its ethics, picks a statistic to show the relationship, and explains why the causal claim fails. Unit 5
• Question 2 · 8 points How time matters in eight concepts The student writes a separate example for each of eight concepts, from critical periods and fluid intelligence to the refractory period and spontaneous recovery, showing how timing is part of the idea. Unit 3, Unit 1

2003

This exam had two free-response questions to answer in 50 minutes, together worth one third of the total grade, and the scoring guidelines give each question 10 points. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · 10 points Statistics behind intelligence test scores The student describes mean, median and mode, relates them to normal and positively skewed distributions, uses a mean and standard deviation to describe IQ scores, then explains why test norms get updated and how to check a test for bias. Unit 2
• Question 2 · 10 points Five concepts that explain a smoking habit The student defines cognitive dissonance, conformity, incentive motivation, physiological addiction and negative reinforcement, then gives an example of how each could start or keep a smoking habit going. Unit 3, Unit 1, Unit 4

2002

This exam had a 50 minute free-response section worth one third of the grade, and students had to answer both of its two essay questions. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · 10 points Opposing processes across five body systems For hunger, color vision, the autonomic nervous system, drug use and neural firing, the student names a mechanism and shows how two opposite tendencies work against each other in each one. Unit 1, Unit 4
• Question 2 · 10 points A kindergartner retells her fire station trip The student defines five developmental and memory concepts, such as egocentrism and schema, and gives an example of how each could shape the way a young child tells her brother about a field trip. Unit 3, Unit 2

2001

This exam had a 50 minute free-response section worth one third of the grade, and students had to answer both of its two essay questions. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · 8 points Anxiety causes and treatments from four perspectives The student explains what causes anxiety according to the behavioral, psychodynamic, biological and cognitive views, then describes one treatment technique each of those views would use. Unit 5
• Question 2 · 6 points How expectations shape perception, memory and more The student describes what a mental set or expectancy is, then gives a concrete example of it changing perception, a drug's effects, classroom performance, problem solving and memory. Unit 2, Unit 4

2000

This exam had a 50 minute free-response section worth one third of the grade, and students had to answer both of its two essay questions. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · 8 points Dropping grades at a high school The student defines four motivation and learning concepts and explains how each one could make students work better or worse if their school stopped giving grades. Unit 4, Unit 3
• Question 2 · 7 points Violent TV and teen crime: correlational study The student plans a correlational study of violent television and teen arrests, covering variables, sampling, generalizing and ethics, then decides whether the police chief's causal claim holds up. Unit 3

1999

This exam had a 50 minute free-response section worth one third of the grade, and students had to answer both of its two essay questions. The current exam has 2 free-response questions in 70 minutes. The skills these questions practice still count.

• Question 1 · 8 points Biology and learning behind eating and weight The student explains how three biological factors and three learning factors affect what people eat and how much they weigh, then picks one of each and says what it means for managing weight. Unit 4, Unit 1, Unit 3
• Question 2 · 10 points Misremembering who argued in a park photo The student defines five cognitive concepts, including schema and confirmation bias, and uses each to explain why study participants recalled the man, not the woman, as the aggressor in a photo. Unit 2, Unit 4