Are you having trouble finding multiple-choice questions for the new AP Psychology exam? Look no further!
My name is Claire. I'm a licensed teacher and professional tutor with over ten years of experience in education. I've helped dozens of students improve their performance in AP Psychology. I've created MCQ questions to use when working with my private clients. I'm posting them here so they can help more students!
Table of Contents
A Note On This Resource
This post is part of a series of posts containing practice questions for the AP Psychology exam. They reflect the content and style of the 2024-2025 revision of the AP Psychology exam.
It is currently challenging to find high-quality, free multiple-choice questions for students. I did not expect that this would be the case so close to the new exam. I know that many students cannot afford tutoring or paid review materials. The free materials that are available often use the old style of the AP Psychology exam. I am concerned that this situation puts some students at a significant disadvantage. I also feel that if I can assist, it is right to do so.
I want to be transparent about the limitations of my own questions. I have not tested these questions as much as I would like. I did not expect to posting them, and there is little time before the exam. Like Washington, I am unconscious of intentional error. I am too conscious of my faults to think that these questions are error-free. I hope that you will view them with indulgence.
I welcome feedback, corrections, and questions.
I would also like to make it clear that I fabricated all all names, research studies, data, and statistics. I would like to use real science like the exam! Yet, real science is often paywalled and copyrighted. This creates significant barriers to creating questions with authentic research. I have written each example to reflect with currently accepted principles in psychology. I hope that this is will avoid causing confusion and misinformation.
Okay, forward!
Unit 0: Science Practices MCQs
| Mouse | No Caffeine (Seconds to Complete Maze) | With Caffeine (Seconds to Complete Maze) |
| A | 20 | 16 |
| B | 10 | 12 |
| C | 12 | 8 |
| D | 12 | 14 |
| E | 18 | 14 |
1. What was the independent variable?
a. The mouse that ran the maze.
b. The food reward.
c. Caffeine use.
d. Speed to complete the maze.
2. What is the range of the mouse's speed in the trial with no caffeine.
a. 10
b. 6
c. 14
d. 20
3. What is the mode of the time to complete the maze with caffeine?
a. 8
b. 14
c. 12
d. 16
4. What should Dr. Tan have done to avoid potential confounding variables?
a. Included a group of mice that ran the maze twice with no caffeine.
b. Conducted the study using human participants.
c. Calculated a correlation coefficient (r)
d. Conducted the study with more mice.
Questions 5 through 11 refer to the following.
Researchers conducted a study of 300 participants who frequently experienced extreme anger and rage. The study had a comparison group of 300 participants who did not experience extreme anger. The researchers found that participants who experienced rage often had significantly more activity in the amygdala than the comparison group.
5. Based on this study, the researchers concluded that more activity in the amygdala causes people to experience extreme anger. Which of the following most accurately describes why this conclusion is flawed?
a. The researchers did not include a placebo group in the study.
b. The researcher's cause-and-effect conclusion can not be made because the participants were not randomly assigned to the two groups.
c. The researcher's results did not show a significant difference between the two groups.
d. The researchers should have used a case study to demonstrate the cause-and-effect relationship.
6. According to this study, what type of relationship exists between amygdala activity and frequently experiencing rage?
a. A positive correlation
b. A negative correlation
c. No correlation
d. A causal relationship
7. Which of the following perspectives would best help researchers answer questions about the relationship between brain structures and their impact on emotions?
a. Cognitive
b. Psychodynamic
c. Evolutionary
d. Biological
8. Which of the following best describes why using an experimental research design is inappropriate for researching the impact of amygdala activity on human emotions?
a. It would be difficult to alter the participant's brain activity without causing harm.
b. It would be difficult to keep the participant's information confidential
c. An experiment would not tell the researchers if there was a cause-and-effect relationship.
d. The researchers would not be able to identify independent and dependent variables.
9. Which of the following values could the researchers calculate to determine if their findings are statistically significant?
a. Correlation coefficient (r)
b. P-value
c. Mode
d. Effect size
10. What should the researchers have done to avoid potential confounding variables?
a. Compared each group's demographics to the larger population.
b. Calculated the mean, median, and mode of each sample.
c. Conducted the research on laboratory mice.
d. Used a Likert scale to quantify their data.
11. Which of the following developments would NOT increase the trustworthiness of these results?
a. Another research team replicates the study and gets the same results.
b. This study's findings are published after peer review.
c. Another study reports elevated amygdala activity in children who later develop anxiety disorders.
d. An experimental study finds that amygdala activity is reduced in patients after they learned anger management techniques.
Questions 12 through 14 refer to the following.
Dr. Henrickson conducts a study of a rare sleep disorder. He interviews one individual about their experiences. He notices that the patient reports that their sleep disorder interrupts their fitness routine. The patient also has trouble eating at regular intervals because of their sleep disorder. Dr. Hendrickson summarizes his findings by noting that additional research should be conducted on the relationship between this sleep disorder and other aspects of physical and mental health. He uses quotes from the interviewee to support his conclusions about the severity of this issue.
12. What type of research design did Dr. Henderickson use?
a. An experimental design
b. A survey
c. Naturalistic observation
d. A case study
13. Which of the following data is mostly likely found in Dr. Henderickson's report?
a. Standard deviation
b. P-value
c. Effect size
d. Qualitative data
14. Which of the following is is most likely a limitation of Dr. Henderickson's work?
a. Social desirability bias
b. Self-report bias
c. Over confidence
d. Hindsight bias
15. Dr. May oversees a lab that uses mice for research. He exposes the mice to UV rays in order to test the effects of the rays on the energy levels of the mice. He does this research in secret because he wants all the credit for his findings. Which of the following aspects of the research design may pose ethical concerns?
a. It is unacceptable to expose animals to harm during research.
b. The mice will be unable to give their informed consent.
c. The data will not be kept confidential.
d. The institutional review process was not completed before the start of the study.
16. In the 1960s, Stanley Migram conducted a series of famous studies. He recruited participants by telling them the study was about learning, but he was really studying obedience. In these studies, he asked participants to come into his lab and give a series of shocks to another person. The participant was told the shocks would help the other person learn. As the experiment went on, the other person would scream and beg for the shocks to stop. Several participants became distressed. If the participant wanted to stop, they were told, "The experiment requires that you continue." At the end of the study, Milgram revealed that the participant was shocking a confederate. The confederate was only pretending to be shocked.
Which of the following is a potential issue under modern-day ethical guidelines?
a. The researcher prevented the participants from withdrawing consent to participate in the study.
b. The researcher lied to the participants about the confederate.
c. The research did not keep the participant's information confidential.
d. The researcher failed to debrief the participants after the study was done.
17. In 1981, Hubel and Wiesel won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Their research showed there is a set period of time when a mammal's visual system develops. If deprived of visual stimuli during this time, mammals will not develop the ability to see.
One of their research experiments was extremely controversial. Hubel and Wiesel sewed the eyes of kittens shut. These kittens subsequently did not develop the ability to see because their brain did not develop typically. What factors would an institutional review board NOT consider when determining whether this research met ethical guidelines?
a. The potential for the research to help people with vision impairments.
b. If the study's goal could be achieved without the use of animal subjects.
c. The researchers' plan to minimize harm to the kittens.
d. The ability of the researchers to keep the kitten's result anonymous.
18. In the 1960s, Philip Zimbardo conducted a controversial study. He used a newspaper to recruit colleges students to participate in an experiment exploring social roles in prison. Half of the participants were assigned to be guard, and the other half would be prisoners. The prisoners were "arrested" and put into a makeshift jail in the basement of the university. Zimbardo repeatedly coached the guards on how real prison guards would treat prisoners. After several days, the experiment ended early because the "guards" behavior was increasingly aggressive and abusive. Zimbardo subsequently released video footage of the experiment.
Which of the following is a potential issue under modern-day ethical guidelines?
a. The participants were deceived with regards to the nature of the research.
b. The researcher failed to reduce the potential for harm by coaching the guards.
c. The use of confederates is always unethical.
d. The participants could not give informed consent because they were minors.
19. Dr. Alice runs individual and group therapy sessions. Most of her patients attend both types of therapy. During a group therapy session, Dr. Alice thinks it would be beneficial to share a statement Betty made in individual therapy. Which of the following best describes the conditions under which sharing Betty's statement is acceptable?
a. Dr. Alice can never share this information.
b. Dr. Alice can share this information if Betty never finds out that it was shared.
c. Dr. Alice can share the statement if Betty's response is typical or common.
d. Dr. Alice can share this information if Betty agrees that it can be shared.
Questions 20 through 22 refer to the following.
Dr. Volkov surveys people at the local shopping mall. He asks two questions face-to-face. First, he asks people how much time the spend in the mall each week. Second, he asks people how much they spent the last time they went to mall. The results of Dr. Volkov's survey are recorded in the chart below.
| Participant | Time Spent In the Mall (Minutes) | Amount Spent In the Mall (Dollars) |
| Participant 1 | 60 | $147.63 |
| Participant 2 | 40 | $127.03 |
| Participant 3 | 10 | $400.07 |
| Participant 4 | 50 | $136.00 |
| Participant 6 | 30 | $80.01 |
20. What is the range of time that Dr. Volkov's participants spent in the mall?
a. 20 minutes
b. 60 minutes
c. 50 minutes
d. 10 minutes
21. Dr. Volkov concludes that there is a correlation between spending time in the mall and spending larger amounts of money in the mall. Why can't Dr. Volkov conclude that spending time in the mall CAUSES people to spend more?
a. Dr. Volkov did not randomly assign the participants to groups.
b. Dr. Volkov gathered data in the mall.
c. Dr. Volkov didn't calculate an effect size.
d. Dr. Volkov found a negative correlation between the two sets of data.
22. Which of the following statistics would help Dr. Volkov show the strength of the relationship between spending time in the mall and spending money?
a. Mean
b. Correlation coefficient
c. Standard deviation
d. Mode
23. Which of the following would have reduced the possibility of bias in Dr. Volkov's data?
a. A Likert scale would reduce the effects of the self-report bias.
b. Gathering data anonymously would reduce the effects of the social desirability bias.
c. Getting informed consent would reduce the placebo effect.
d. Debriefing participants would reduce the effects of confirmation bias.
The Answer Key
1. C
2. A
3. B
4. A
5. B
6. A
7. D
8. A
9. B
10. A
11. C
12. D
13. D
14. B
15. D
16. A
17. D
18. B
19. D
20. C
21. A
22. B
23. B
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