AP Physics 1 Practice Test 2027: 5 Full Model Papers + Solutions
Use these five original model papers for whole-exam simulation. Each paper contains 42 MCQs in an 85-minute Section I and 4 FRQs in a 95-minute Section II, matching the May 2027 exam structure. Every question has an answer or full solution.
How many full AP Physics 1 practice tests are included?
Five complete original AP Physics 1 model papers are included. Each paper uses the 2027 structure of 42 MCQs and 4 FRQs with answer keys and worked solutions.
- 5 full model papers.
- 210 model-paper MCQs and 20 model-paper FRQs.
- Current 2027 section counts and timing.
Full model papers and topic practice now have different jobs
Choose a model paper when you want a timed final-exam simulation. Choose the MCQ or FRQ subpages when you want focused practice on one exact syllabus topic.
42 MCQs + 4 FRQs per paper, current timing, weighted unit coverage, answers and full solutions.
Select a paper ↓Focused drillMCQ Practice by Topic42 original multiple-choice questions for each of all 43 official topics with direct explanations.
Open topic MCQs →Focused writingFRQ Practice by TopicFour original FRQs for each of all 43 official topics covering the four current response types.
Open topic FRQs →Choose your final-review paper
All five use the same official section lengths but different questions, contexts and FRQ combinations.
They are blueprint-based forecasts, not leaked or official exam questions. Each 42-question MCQ paper uses a balanced count inside the current College Board unit-weighting ranges: Unit 1 = 5, Unit 2 = 8, Unit 3 = 8, Unit 4 = 5, Unit 5 = 5, Unit 6 = 3, Unit 7 = 3, Unit 8 = 5. The four FRQs use one Mathematical Routines, one Translation Between Representations, one Experimental Design & Analysis, and one Qualitative/Quantitative Translation task.
| Unit | Model-paper MCQs | Share of 42 | Official MCQ range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Kinematics | 5 | 11.9% | 10–15% |
| 2 Force & Translational Dynamics | 8 | 19.0% | 18–23% |
| 3 Work, Energy & Power | 8 | 19.0% | 18–23% |
| 4 Linear Momentum | 5 | 11.9% | 10–15% |
| 5 Torque & Rotational Dynamics | 5 | 11.9% | 10–15% |
| 6 Energy and Momentum of Rotating Systems | 3 | 7.1% | 5–8% |
| 7 Oscillations | 3 | 7.1% | 5–8% |
| 8 Fluids | 5 | 11.9% | 10–15% |
AP Physics 1 2027 Model Paper 5
For the most realistic attempt, use the equation/reference sheet allowed for the exam, keep solutions closed, and complete both sections under the current timing.
42 multiple-choice questions
Questions are intentionally mixed across units. Use the Check Answer button only after committing to a choice if you are simulating exam conditions.
Two masses attract gravitationally. Their separation changes by a factor of 1.5 while both masses remain constant. By what factor does the force change?
Correct answer: A. Gravitational force follows F ∝ 1/r², so changing r by factor 1.5 changes F by 1/(1.5)² = 0.444.
A motor transfers 1100 J of energy in 10 s. What is its average power?
Correct answer: C. Average power is energy transferred per time: P = ΔE/Δt = 110 W.
A constant +45 N force acts for 0.45 s. What impulse is delivered?
Correct answer: C. Impulse is J = FΔt for a constant force, so J = +20.25 N·s.
A 7 kg object is lifted vertically by 8 m near Earth’s surface. Take g = 10 m/s². What is the increase in gravitational potential energy?
Correct answer: D. ΔU_g = mgΔy = 560 J.
In water (ρ = 1000 kg/m³), what is the gauge-pressure increase 2 m below the surface? Take g = 10 m/s².
Correct answer: C. Hydrostatic pressure change is ΔP = ρgΔh = 20000 Pa.
A ball is launched horizontally from a balcony while a second ball is simply dropped from the same height at the same instant. Ignoring air resistance, which lands first?
Correct answer: A. Horizontal and vertical motions share the same time. With identical vertical initial conditions and the same gravitational acceleration, the flight time is independent of horizontal speed.
During a collision, a truck exerts a force on a car. Which statement about the third-law partner is correct?
Correct answer: C. Newton’s-third-law forces are the same interaction on two different objects and have equal magnitude with opposite direction.
A constant horizontal force of 20 N acts in the direction of motion while an object moves 8 m. How much work does the force do?
Correct answer: B. For a force parallel to displacement, W = Fd = 160 J.
A skater spinning with arms tucked extends both arms outward. With negligible external torque, what happens?
Correct answer: A. With negligible external torque, angular momentum L = Iω is conserved, so I and ω change inversely.
A horizontal beam is in rotational equilibrium. A downward 22 N force acts 0.25 m left of the pivot. What downward force acting 0.50 m right of the pivot balances it?
Correct answer: B. For rotational equilibrium, clockwise and counterclockwise torques have equal magnitude: F_L r_L = F_R r_R.
A cart starts from rest and descends a frictionless track through a vertical height of 2.8 m. Take g = 10 m/s². What is its speed at the bottom?
Correct answer: B. Conservation of mechanical energy gives mgh = ½mv², so v = √(2gh) = 7.48 m/s.
An object moves along the x-axis from x = -7 m to x = +17 m. What is its displacement?
Correct answer: A. Displacement is final position minus initial position: Δx = x_f − x_i = 24 m.
For an ideal mass-spring oscillator, the spring constant k increases by a factor of 4 while mass stays constant. By what factor does the period change?
Correct answer: C. Because T = 2π√(m/k), the period follows the square root of m and the inverse square root of k.
A frictionless block slides down an incline at 60°. Use sin(60°) ≈ 0.87 and g = 10 m/s². What is its acceleration along the incline?
Correct answer: A. Along the incline, ma = mg sinθ, so a = g sinθ = 8.7 m/s² down the incline.
A 2 kg cart moving at +9 m/s sticks to a 2.0 kg cart initially at rest. Neglect external impulse. What is their common velocity?
Correct answer: D. Conservation of momentum gives m₁v₁ = (m₁+m₂)v_f, so v_f = +4.5 m/s.
A spring with k = 220 N/m is stretched 0.050 m beyond its relaxed length. What is the magnitude of the spring force?
Correct answer: C. Hooke’s law gives |F_s| = k|x| = 11 N.
A cart has velocity +9 m/s and acceleration -3.5 m/s² at an instant. What is happening to its speed?
Correct answer: B. Velocity and acceleration have opposite signs, so the acceleration opposes the motion and the speed decreases.
A moving object’s speed changes by a factor of 1.5 while mass stays constant. By what factor does its kinetic energy change?
Correct answer: C. K = ½mv², so kinetic energy scales with the square of speed: factor = 2.25.
A 8 kg block rests on a horizontal surface with μ_s = 0.40. Take g = 10 m/s². What is the maximum static-friction magnitude?
Correct answer: D. Maximum static friction is f_s,max = μ_s N = μ_s mg = 32 N.
A wheel of radius 0.35 m rolls without slipping with angular speed 9 rad/s. What is the center-of-mass speed?
Correct answer: B. For rolling without slipping, v = ωR = 3.15 m/s.
For energy accounting of a sled descending a frictionless slope, which system choice allows gravitational potential energy to be treated as internal energy of the system?
Correct answer: A. Gravitational potential energy is associated with the interaction between Earth and the object, so the useful system contains both.
A 7 kg cart moves at +8 m/s. What is its linear momentum?
Correct answer: B. Linear momentum is p = mv, including the velocity direction, so p = +56 kg·m/s.
A train moves +28 m/s relative to the ground. A passenger walks toward the rear at 3 m/s relative to the train. What is the passenger's velocity relative to the ground?
Correct answer: D. Use signed relative velocities: v_P/G = v_P/T + v_T/G = 25 m/s.
In a horizontal flow tube whose area decreases, the fluid speed is greater in the narrower region. How does the static pressure there compare with the wider region?
Correct answer: B. For steady ideal flow at equal height, Bernoulli’s relation pairs greater speed with lower static pressure.
A force-time graph is a triangle with base 0.9 s and peak height 55 N. What is the impulse magnitude?
Correct answer: B. Impulse equals the area under F(t). The triangle area is ½(base)(height) = 24.75 N·s.
An object moves in a circle of fixed radius. Its speed changes by a factor of 1.5 while mass and radius stay constant. By what factor does the required centripetal net force change?
Correct answer: D. Because F_c = mv²/r, the force scales as the square of speed. The factor is (1.5)² = 2.25.
A point on a rotating disk is 0.4 m from the axis and the disk rotates at 9 rad/s. What is the point's tangential speed?
Correct answer: C. Tangential speed and angular speed are related by v = rω.
A rigid object has rotational inertia 3 kg·m² and experiences net torque 11 N·m. What is its angular acceleration?
Correct answer: D. Rotational dynamics gives τ_net = Iα, so α = τ_net/I = 3.67 rad/s².
A force of 20 N is applied perpendicular to a wrench 0.3 m from the pivot. What is the torque magnitude?
Correct answer: C. For a perpendicular force, τ = rF = 6 N·m.
A 7 kg object speeds up from 2 m/s to 5 m/s. What is the net work done on it?
Correct answer: D. The work-energy theorem gives W_net = ΔK = ½m(v_f²−v_i²) = 73.5 J.
Water flows steadily from a pipe of cross-sectional area 4.0 cm² at 3 m/s into a 2.0 cm² section. What is the speed in the narrower section?
Correct answer: A. For steady incompressible flow, A₁v₁ = A₂v₂. Halving the area doubles the speed.
A 7 kg cart experiences a constant net horizontal force of 21 N. What is the cart's acceleration?
Correct answer: B. Newton’s second law gives a = F_net/m = 3 m/s².
A cart undergoes constant acceleration. Its velocity changes from +11 m/s to +1 m/s in 9 s. What is its displacement during the interval?
Correct answer: C. For constant acceleration, average velocity is (v_i+v_f)/2. Multiplying by time gives Δx = 54 m.
An object displaces 0.003 m³ of water. Take ρ_water = 1000 kg/m³ and g = 10 m/s². What is the buoyant-force magnitude?
Correct answer: D. Archimedes’ principle gives F_B = ρ_fluid g V_displaced = 30 N.
For two low-friction dynamics carts colliding, why can total system momentum be approximately conserved during the short interaction?
Correct answer: A. Internal forces transfer momentum between system parts; negligible external impulse keeps the total momentum nearly constant.
A fluid sample has mass 1.1 kg and volume 5.0×10⁻⁴ m³. What is its density?
Correct answer: B. Density is ρ = m/V = 2200 kg/m³.
A rotating object has I = 2.2 kg·m² and ω = 8 rad/s. What is its rotational kinetic energy?
Correct answer: D. Rotational kinetic energy is K_rot = ½Iω² = 70.4 J.
A spring with k = 300 N/m is compressed 0.10 m. How much elastic potential energy is stored?
Correct answer: A. Spring potential energy is U_s = ½kx² = 1.5 J.
An ideal spring oscillator is instantaneously at x = +3A/4, where x=0 is equilibrium. In which direction is its acceleration?
Correct answer: D. For SHM, a ∝ −x, so acceleration always points from the displaced position back toward equilibrium.
For an ideal mass moving in simple harmonic motion on a spring, at what position is the magnitude of velocity greatest?
Correct answer: A. At equilibrium the spring potential energy is minimum and kinetic energy is maximum, so speed is greatest there.
A 70 kg rider stands on a scale in an elevator accelerating upward at 2 m/s². Take g = 10 m/s². What does the scale read?
Correct answer: B. For upward acceleration, N − mg = ma, so N = m(g+a) = 840 N.
Two rotating objects have the same total mass and outer radius. Object A is more centrally concentrated while Object B is rim-heavy. Which has the greater rotational inertia?
Correct answer: A. Rotational inertia weights each mass element by r², so placing more mass farther from the axis increases I.
Open quick MCQ answer key for Model Paper 5
Full reasoning remains available under each MCQ. The quick key is for scoring after a timed attempt.
4 free-response questions
One prompt is provided for each current AP Physics 1 FRQ task type. Write all parts before opening the solution.
Atwood-style two-mass system
Masses 3.0 kg and 2.0 kg are connected by a light string over an ideal pulley. Use g=10 m/s².
- Determine the acceleration magnitude.
- Determine the string tension.
- If both masses were doubled, state what happens to acceleration and justify.
Open full solution and scoring checkpoints
- Net driving force is (3−2)g=10 N on total mass 5 kg, so a=2.0 m/s².
- For the 2 kg mass moving up: T−20=2(2), so T=24 N.
- Doubling both masses doubles both driving force and total inertia, so the acceleration is unchanged.
Practice scoring checkpoints only; these are not official College Board point allocations.
Pressure and speed in a pipe
An ideal fluid flows steadily through a horizontal pipe that narrows smoothly to half its original cross-sectional area.
- Sketch qualitative speed versus position through the narrowing.
- Sketch qualitative static pressure versus position.
- State the narrow-section speed if the wide-section speed is 3.0 m/s.
- Explain the opposite trends of speed and pressure.
Open full solution and scoring checkpoints
- Speed rises as area decreases and reaches twice its wide-section value in the half-area section.
- Static pressure falls through the narrowing.
- Continuity gives v_narrow = 6.0 m/s.
- Mass continuity requires higher speed in smaller area; Bernoulli at equal height trades pressure energy density for kinetic-energy density.
Practice scoring checkpoints only; these are not official College Board point allocations.
Determine rotational inertia
A disk is mounted on a low-friction axle. A light string wrapped around a hub of known radius r supports a hanging mass m.
- State what quantities should be measured during the fall.
- Show how the string tension can be determined from the hanging mass motion.
- Show how disk rotational inertia can be determined.
- Identify one important systematic effect.
Open full solution and scoring checkpoints
- Measure m, hub radius r, and the mass acceleration a; ensure no slip so α=a/r.
- For the hanging mass, mg−T=ma, so T=m(g−a).
- Torque on the disk is Tr = Iα, giving I = Tr/α = m(g−a)r²/a.
- Axle friction, hub/string rotational inertia, or string slip can bias the result.
Practice scoring checkpoints only; these are not official College Board point allocations.
Oscillator energy and graphs
A block-spring oscillator has amplitude A and total energy E. At x=A/2, analyze its energy and motion.
- Express the spring potential energy as a fraction of E.
- Express kinetic energy as a fraction of E.
- Compare the speed at x=A/2 with the maximum speed.
- State the direction of acceleration when x=+A/2.
Open full solution and scoring checkpoints
- E=½kA² and U=½k(A/2)²=E/4.
- K=E−U=3E/4.
- Since K/K_max = v²/v_max² = 3/4, v = (√3/2)v_max.
- Acceleration points toward equilibrium, so at positive x it points in the negative direction.
Practice scoring checkpoints only; these are not official College Board point allocations.
Do not repeat another full paper immediately if one topic caused most of the errors. Move to the focused banks first, repair the weakness, then return to a different model paper for transfer practice.