AP Psychology — Practice Questions flashcards
6 of 60 questions free to study here · 6 topics · the whole deck is built into Willys
Multiple-choice practice questions, one best answer each, on research methods, the brain, sensation, cognition, development, learning, social psychology, personality and mental health.
Practice deck · part of AP Psychology · written against: College Board AP Psychology Course and Exam Description (2024 five-unit revision). Updated 2026-10-10.
Study the free sample
6 questions from the deck as they are. Flip, rate yourself, filter by topic; your progress stays in this browser.
Tap the card or press Space to flip
The 6 sample questions as a list
-
A psychologist randomly assigns 80 students either to study a word list while instrumental music plays or to study it in silence. She then counts how many words each student recalls. What is the dependent variable?
A) The number of words each student recalls
B) The students who study the list in silence
C) The random assignment of students to groups
D) Whether music plays during the study periodA) The number of words each student recallsResearch Methods
The dependent variable is the outcome that is measured — here, words recalled. Whether music plays is the independent variable, the factor the researcher manipulates. -
A hiker suddenly spots a rattlesnake on the trail. Her heart races, her pupils dilate and her digestion slows. Which part of the nervous system produces these changes?
A) The somatic nervous system
B) The sympathetic nervous system
C) The parasympathetic nervous system
D) The central nervous system aloneB) The sympathetic nervous systemBiological Bases › Nervous and Endocrine Systems
The sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system triggers fight-or-flight arousal. The parasympathetic division does the opposite, calming the body and restoring digestion once the threat passes. -
Two groups view the same ambiguous sketch. One group was told beforehand that it shows a duck, the other that it shows a rabbit, and each group mostly reports seeing what it was told. Which concept best explains this?
A) Sensory adaptation
B) Bottom-up processing
C) Retinal disparity
D) Top-down processingD) Top-down processingCognition › Perception
Top-down processing uses expectations and context to interpret sensory input — here, the label creates a perceptual set. Bottom-up processing builds the perception from the sensory features alone, which are identical for both groups. -
A three-year-old tells her grandmother, 'I runned fast and saw two mouses.' What does this error best illustrate?
A) Holophrastic speech from the one-word stage
B) Imitation of the speech she hears from adults
C) Telegraphic speech from the two-word stage
D) Overgeneralization of grammatical rulesD) Overgeneralization of grammatical rulesDevelopment and Learning › Language
She is applying the regular past-tense and plural rules to irregular words — overgeneralization — which shows that children extract rules rather than merely imitating, since adults do not say 'runned' or 'mouses.' Telegraphic speech is short key-word phrases such as 'want milk.' -
A student sees a classmate slip in the hallway and thinks, 'He is so clumsy,' without noticing that the floor was just mopped. Which concept best describes the student's judgment?
A) The fundamental attribution error
B) The self-serving bias
C) Cognitive dissonance
D) In-group biasA) The fundamental attribution errorSocial Psychology and Personality › Social Psychology
The fundamental attribution error is overestimating personal traits and underestimating the situation when explaining other people's behavior. The self-serving bias concerns how people explain their own successes and failures. -
A nurse working double shifts for months copes well at first, staying alert and productive, but eventually becomes worn out and catches one illness after another. In Selye's general adaptation syndrome, which stage has she reached?
A) Alarm
B) Exhaustion
C) Resistance
D) RecoveryB) ExhaustionMental and Physical Health › Stress
Selye's exhaustion stage follows prolonged resistance: the body's reserves run down and vulnerability to illness rises. The resistance stage was the earlier period when she was coping and staying alert.
Unlock the whole deck
You are studying a free 6-question sample. All 60 questions of AP Psychology — Practice Questions, the other 2 AP Psychology decks, and spaced-repetition scheduling are built into Willys. 14-day free trial, then $14.99 a year.
In Willys, tap Exam Library at the top of your Decks (or Browse Exam Library… under the + button), find the exam on its shelf or by search, tick it and tap Add.
More AP Psychology decks
← All AP Psychology decks, with the study guide and topic outline.
About these cards
Review status: Second-reader reviewed, with corrections applied.
Checked against:
- Facts follow this folder's two study decks, which were checked against the references below and Myers' Psychology for the AP Course (reference only; no text copied).
- APA Dictionary of Psychology (dictionary.apa.org), NIH and MedlinePlus pages and the original studies, consulted as references; no text copied.
- Disorder descriptions follow the DSM-5-TR criteria at the level of detail taught in the AP course (reference only; no text copied); scenarios are hypothetical and describe no real person.
These are independent study notes written for Willys. They are not official exam material, may contain mistakes, and are no substitute for your course, your teacher or the exam owner's own publications. Found an error? Tell us — corrections ship as a new version of the deck.
AP® is a trademark registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, this product.
Use of these pages is covered by our Terms of Use.