AP Physics 1 Full Mock 6: Experimental Design FRQs
AP Physics 1 Full Mock 6 focuses on experimental design FRQs — identifying variables, designing procedures, and predicting outcomes. AP lab reasoning practice.
Lab Design and Experimental Reasoning in AP Physics 1
Full Mock 6 is built around the experimental design FRQ — one of the most distinctive and frequently underestimated question types in AP Physics 1. The College Board consistently includes at least one experimental design question in the free-response section, and students who have not practiced this specific format are at a significant disadvantage.
What Experimental Design FRQs Require
Identifying Variables
Every experimental design FRQ requires students to clearly identify the independent variable (what is deliberately changed), the dependent variable (what is measured), and controlled variables (what is kept constant). Responses that conflate these categories or omit controlled variables receive reduced credit.
Designing a Procedure
Students must describe a step-by-step procedure that would allow a physicist to collect the data needed to test a hypothesis. The procedure must be specific enough to be reproducible — vague statements like 'measure the velocity' without specifying how earn no credit. Referencing specific equipment (motion sensors, force probes, meter sticks, stopwatches) strengthens the response.
Predicting Outcomes and Graphical Analysis
After designing the experiment, AP students are often asked to predict what graph of the data would look like if the hypothesis were correct, and to explain the shape of the predicted graph using physics principles. This connects experimental design to conceptual reasoning in a way that rewards students who understand why a relationship holds, not just that it does.
Mock 6 Experimental Design Scenarios
Mock 6 includes experimental design FRQs drawn from oscillations (testing the relationship between string length and pendulum period), dynamics (testing friction force as a function of normal force), and fluids (testing how buoyant force varies with submerged volume). Each scenario is accompanied by a grading-criteria breakdown to support self-assessment.