CHAPTER 7

How to Approach Each Question Type

IN THIS CHAPTER
Summary: Become familiar with the three types of questions on the exam: multiple-choice, free-response, and lab questions. Pace yourself,
and know when to skip a question.

Key Ideas
You don’t need a calculator to figure out multiple choice questions, even though you are allowed a
calculator.
There are five categories of multiple-choice questions. Two of these involve numbers: easy
calculations and order-of-magnitude estimates. The other three don’t involve numbers at all:
proportional reasoning questions, concept questions, and questions asking for the direct solution with
variables only.
Free-response questions test your understanding of physics, not obscure theories or technical terms.
You can get partial credit on free-response questions.
Each free-response section will contain at least one question that involves experiment design and
analysis—in other words, a lab question.
Check out our six steps to answering lab questions successfully.

How to Approach the Multiple-Choice Section

The AP exam is very, very straightforward. There are no trick questions, no unreasonably difficult
problems, no math beyond the clearly articulated scope of the course. The multiple choice questions test
your physics knowledge in a variety of ways—a glance through the practice exam in this book, as well as
reading through this section, can give you a sense of the types of questions asked.
Until 2015, calculators and the equation sheet were not provided during the multiple choice section.
Now, though, you can use calculators and equation sheets on the whole exam.
Important point: The content and style of questions did not change, even though the calculator
policy did .
The point is, you do not need to use a calculator on the multiple choice section. No multiple choice
question requires significant number crunching. More importantly, though, understand that