AP Physics 1 · Free Response

AP Physics 1 FRQ four questions, half your score.

Section II of the AP Physics 1 exam is four free-response questions in 90 minutes, worth 50% of your score. A calculator is allowed throughout. Here is the format after the 2025 redesign, the four question types, and how the rubric awards points.

Updated June 2026Part of AP FRQ & Writing Guides

The format at a glance

Section II is four free-response questions, and each one is a different type that tests a different skill.

Questions

Four free-response questions.

Time

90 minutes.

Weight

50% of your total AP score.

Calculator

Allowed for the entire free-response section.

Equation sheet

Provided, so memorizing formulas matters less than knowing when to use them.

The four question types

The redesigned exam fixes one question to each of these skills, so you know what is coming.

Mathematical Routines

Set up and solve a multi-step problem, showing the algebra that connects the physics to the number.

Translation Between Representations

Move an idea between forms, such as a graph, an equation, a diagram, and words.

Experimental Design and Analysis

Design a procedure, identify variables and controls, and analyze data, often by linearizing a graph.

Qualitative/Quantitative Translation

Write a short paragraph that reasons through a scenario, then back it with math.

What it tests

The questions sample the whole course: kinematics, forces and Newton’s laws, work and energy, momentum and collisions, torque and rotation, simple harmonic motion, and fluids, which the redesign added to Physics 1. Most questions blend two of these areas rather than testing one in isolation.

Where students lose points

Skipping the setup

Writing a number from the calculator without the equation and substitution that produced it.

No free-body diagram

Forces questions reward a correct, labeled diagram before any math.

Units and signs

Dropping units, or losing a sign on a vector quantity such as velocity or acceleration.

Thin paragraphs

The qualitative response wants a claim with reasoning, not a restated fact.

How to practice

Work the College Board released AP Physics 1 free-response questions with the scoring guidelines next to you, since the rubric language repeats year to year. Practice writing the paragraph-length responses out loud first, then on paper. When you have a raw score, the AP Physics 1 score calculator projects it onto the 1–5 scale.