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AP Psychology Exam 2026/2027 | AP Exam with Questions & Verified Answers
2026/2027
Complete Blueprint Coverage — Scientific Foundations to Social Psychology A+
A+ 4 100%
QUESTIONS VERIFIED CORE DOMAINS COVERED RATIONALES INCLUDED
CATEGORIES
Scientific Foundations & Biological Bases
Developmental, Learning, & Cognition
Motivation, Emotion, Personality
Clinical & Social Psychology
STUVIAACTUALEXAM
,AP Psychology Exam 2026/2027 Page 2
SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATIONS & BIOLOGICAL BASES
Q1
A researcher wants to determine whether a new study technique improves exam scores. Students are randomly assigned to
use either the new technique or their usual methods for two weeks, after which both groups take the same exam. The
independent variable in this study is:
A. The students' prior GPA
B. The exam scores obtained after two weeks
C. The study technique assigned to each group
D. The length of the study period
Correct Answer: C
The independent variable is the factor the experimenter manipulates—in this case, which study technique participants use. Exam scores are
the dependent variable.
Q2
A psychologist discovers a correlation of –0.72 between hours of sleep and self-reported stress levels among college students.
This finding indicates that:
A. There is essentially no relationship between the two variables
B. Sleep causes reductions in stress
C. As sleep increases, stress tends to decrease in a moderately strong inverse relationship
D. Stress causes people to sleep more
Correct Answer: C
A correlation of –0.72 is a moderately strong negative relationship, meaning higher values on one variable tend to accompany lower values on
the other. Correlation alone does not establish causation.
Q3
In a double-blind drug trial, neither the participants nor the researchers who interact with them know who is receiving the active
medication. The primary purpose of this design is to:
A. Guarantee that the drug will be effective
B. Minimize expectancy effects and experimenter bias
C. Eliminate the need for a control group
D. Increase the sample size artificially
Correct Answer: B
Double-blind procedures prevent both participants and experimenters from allowing expectations to influence behavior or data recording,
thereby protecting internal validity.
Q4
A neuron receives multiple excitatory signals on its dendrites that together raise its membrane potential past the threshold of
excitation. The immediate result is:
A. The permanent hyperpolarization of the cell
B. An action potential that travels down the axon
C. The release of hormones into the bloodstream
D. The destruction of the myelin sheath
Correct Answer: B
When the integrated excitatory input reaches threshold at the axon hillock, a rapid, all-or-none action potential is generated and propagates
along the axon.
STUVIAACTUALEXAM
, AP Psychology Exam 2026/2027 Page 3
Q5
After a stroke, a patient can understand spoken language but produces only slow, effortful, and grammatically incomplete
speech. The damage is most likely located in:
A. The right parietal lobe
B. Wernicke's area in the left temporal lobe
C. Broca's area in the left frontal lobe
D. The cerebellum
Correct Answer: C
Broca's aphasia is characterized by non-fluent, effortful speech with relatively preserved comprehension and is associated with damage to
Broca's area in the left frontal lobe.
Q6
A researcher measures the same group of children on a conservation task at ages 5, 7, and 9. This design is best described
as:
A. Experimental
B. Cross-sectional
C. Longitudinal
D. Case study
Correct Answer: C
A longitudinal design follows the same individuals over time, allowing direct observation of developmental change within persons.
Q7
Which neurotransmitter is most directly associated with the experience of pleasure and the reinforcement of behaviors?
A. Dopamine
B. GABA
C. Acetylcholine
D. Cortisol
Correct Answer: A
Dopamine pathways, particularly those projecting to the nucleus accumbens, are central to reward, motivation, and the reinforcement of
behavior.
Q8
A patient suffers damage to the hippocampus and thereafter cannot form new long-term declarative memories, although
procedural skills remain intact. This pattern illustrates:
A. Retrograde amnesia affecting all memory systems
B. Anterograde amnesia with preserved non-declarative memory
C. Complete loss of short-term memory capacity
D. Selective impairment of implicit memory only
Correct Answer: B
Hippocampal damage classically produces anterograde amnesia for explicit/declarative information while leaving many forms of implicit and
procedural memory relatively spared.
Q9
When light enters the eye, it is first focused by the cornea and lens onto the retina, where photoreceptors convert it into neural
signals. The process of converting physical energy into neural impulses is called:
A. Transduction
B. Accommodation
C. Adaptation
D. Perception
Correct Answer: A
Transduction is the conversion of physical stimulus energy (here, light) into electrochemical signals that the nervous system can process.
STUVIAACTUALEXAM
AP Psychology Exam 2026/2027 | AP Exam with Questions & Verified Answers
2026/2027
Complete Blueprint Coverage — Scientific Foundations to Social Psychology A+
A+ 4 100%
QUESTIONS VERIFIED CORE DOMAINS COVERED RATIONALES INCLUDED
CATEGORIES
Scientific Foundations & Biological Bases
Developmental, Learning, & Cognition
Motivation, Emotion, Personality
Clinical & Social Psychology
STUVIAACTUALEXAM
,AP Psychology Exam 2026/2027 Page 2
SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATIONS & BIOLOGICAL BASES
Q1
A researcher wants to determine whether a new study technique improves exam scores. Students are randomly assigned to
use either the new technique or their usual methods for two weeks, after which both groups take the same exam. The
independent variable in this study is:
A. The students' prior GPA
B. The exam scores obtained after two weeks
C. The study technique assigned to each group
D. The length of the study period
Correct Answer: C
The independent variable is the factor the experimenter manipulates—in this case, which study technique participants use. Exam scores are
the dependent variable.
Q2
A psychologist discovers a correlation of –0.72 between hours of sleep and self-reported stress levels among college students.
This finding indicates that:
A. There is essentially no relationship between the two variables
B. Sleep causes reductions in stress
C. As sleep increases, stress tends to decrease in a moderately strong inverse relationship
D. Stress causes people to sleep more
Correct Answer: C
A correlation of –0.72 is a moderately strong negative relationship, meaning higher values on one variable tend to accompany lower values on
the other. Correlation alone does not establish causation.
Q3
In a double-blind drug trial, neither the participants nor the researchers who interact with them know who is receiving the active
medication. The primary purpose of this design is to:
A. Guarantee that the drug will be effective
B. Minimize expectancy effects and experimenter bias
C. Eliminate the need for a control group
D. Increase the sample size artificially
Correct Answer: B
Double-blind procedures prevent both participants and experimenters from allowing expectations to influence behavior or data recording,
thereby protecting internal validity.
Q4
A neuron receives multiple excitatory signals on its dendrites that together raise its membrane potential past the threshold of
excitation. The immediate result is:
A. The permanent hyperpolarization of the cell
B. An action potential that travels down the axon
C. The release of hormones into the bloodstream
D. The destruction of the myelin sheath
Correct Answer: B
When the integrated excitatory input reaches threshold at the axon hillock, a rapid, all-or-none action potential is generated and propagates
along the axon.
STUVIAACTUALEXAM
, AP Psychology Exam 2026/2027 Page 3
Q5
After a stroke, a patient can understand spoken language but produces only slow, effortful, and grammatically incomplete
speech. The damage is most likely located in:
A. The right parietal lobe
B. Wernicke's area in the left temporal lobe
C. Broca's area in the left frontal lobe
D. The cerebellum
Correct Answer: C
Broca's aphasia is characterized by non-fluent, effortful speech with relatively preserved comprehension and is associated with damage to
Broca's area in the left frontal lobe.
Q6
A researcher measures the same group of children on a conservation task at ages 5, 7, and 9. This design is best described
as:
A. Experimental
B. Cross-sectional
C. Longitudinal
D. Case study
Correct Answer: C
A longitudinal design follows the same individuals over time, allowing direct observation of developmental change within persons.
Q7
Which neurotransmitter is most directly associated with the experience of pleasure and the reinforcement of behaviors?
A. Dopamine
B. GABA
C. Acetylcholine
D. Cortisol
Correct Answer: A
Dopamine pathways, particularly those projecting to the nucleus accumbens, are central to reward, motivation, and the reinforcement of
behavior.
Q8
A patient suffers damage to the hippocampus and thereafter cannot form new long-term declarative memories, although
procedural skills remain intact. This pattern illustrates:
A. Retrograde amnesia affecting all memory systems
B. Anterograde amnesia with preserved non-declarative memory
C. Complete loss of short-term memory capacity
D. Selective impairment of implicit memory only
Correct Answer: B
Hippocampal damage classically produces anterograde amnesia for explicit/declarative information while leaving many forms of implicit and
procedural memory relatively spared.
Q9
When light enters the eye, it is first focused by the cornea and lens onto the retina, where photoreceptors convert it into neural
signals. The process of converting physical energy into neural impulses is called:
A. Transduction
B. Accommodation
C. Adaptation
D. Perception
Correct Answer: A
Transduction is the conversion of physical stimulus energy (here, light) into electrochemical signals that the nervous system can process.
STUVIAACTUALEXAM
