ELITE COMPREHENSIVE
COLLEGE BOARD ADVANCED PLACEMENT EXAMINATION
ADVANCED PLACEMENT (AP) PSYCHOLOGY
COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION — 2026
CUMULATIVE FINAL ASSESSMENT
FINAL SPRING EXAMINATION MAY 2026
The distinctive feature of the psychodynamic perspective is its emphasis on
a. natural selection.
b. unconscious conflicts.
c. introspection.
d. learned behaviors.
e. brain chemistry.
• b. unconscious conflicts
Severing a cat's reticular formation from higher brain regions causes the cat to
a. lapse into a coma.
b. cower in fear.
c. become violently aggressive.
d. become sexually preoccupied.
e. experience convulsive seizures.
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, • lapse into a coma
Visually associating five items needed from the grocery store with mental images of a bun, a
shoe,
a tree, a door, and a hive best illustrates the use of
a. the spacing effect.
b. the peg-word system.
c. serial position effect.
d. the testing effect.
e. implicit memory
• b. the peg- word system
Which brain area is primarily involved with controlling speech?
a. association areas
b. sensory cortex
c. Broca's area
d. hypothalamus
e. angular gyrus
• c. Broca's Area
Margie insists that she never dreams, but her sister feels she can prove otherwise. To prove that
Margie does dream, the sister should
a. feed Margie lots of rich food just before bedtime.
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,b. wake Margie after she has been asleep for about 5 minutes and ask her what she's dreaming.
c. make an all-night audiotape of the sounds Margie makes while sleeping.
d. wake Margie after 5 minutes of REM sleep and ask her what she's dreaming.
e. use posthypnotic suggestion to increase the chances of dream recall
• d. wake Margie after 5 minutes of REM sleep and ask her what she is
dreaming
Students routinely underestimate how much time it will take them to complete assigned course
projects. This best illustrates the impact of
a. overconfidence.
b. the availability heuristic.
c. the representativeness heuristic.
d. framing.
e. fixation
• overconfidence
Working in a community mental health center, Dr. Thatcher treats adults who suffer from severe
depression. Dr. Thatcher is most likely a(n) ________ psychologist
a. clinical
b. social
c. industrial-organizational
d. developmental
e. personality
• clinical
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, Bandura's experiments indicate that ________ is important in the process of learning.
a. shaping
b. secondary reinforcement
c. respondent behavior
d. generalization
e. modeling
• e. modeling
Memories are primed by
a. the serial position effect.
b. retrieval cues.
c. source amnesia.
d. repression.
e. retroactive interference.
• b. retrieval cues
As the retinal image of a horse galloping toward you becomes larger, it is unlikely that the horse
will appear to grow larger. This best illustrates the phenomenon of
a. binocular cues.
b. size constancy.
c. closure.
d. linear perspective.
4|Page
COLLEGE BOARD ADVANCED PLACEMENT EXAMINATION
ADVANCED PLACEMENT (AP) PSYCHOLOGY
COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION — 2026
CUMULATIVE FINAL ASSESSMENT
FINAL SPRING EXAMINATION MAY 2026
The distinctive feature of the psychodynamic perspective is its emphasis on
a. natural selection.
b. unconscious conflicts.
c. introspection.
d. learned behaviors.
e. brain chemistry.
• b. unconscious conflicts
Severing a cat's reticular formation from higher brain regions causes the cat to
a. lapse into a coma.
b. cower in fear.
c. become violently aggressive.
d. become sexually preoccupied.
e. experience convulsive seizures.
1|Page
, • lapse into a coma
Visually associating five items needed from the grocery store with mental images of a bun, a
shoe,
a tree, a door, and a hive best illustrates the use of
a. the spacing effect.
b. the peg-word system.
c. serial position effect.
d. the testing effect.
e. implicit memory
• b. the peg- word system
Which brain area is primarily involved with controlling speech?
a. association areas
b. sensory cortex
c. Broca's area
d. hypothalamus
e. angular gyrus
• c. Broca's Area
Margie insists that she never dreams, but her sister feels she can prove otherwise. To prove that
Margie does dream, the sister should
a. feed Margie lots of rich food just before bedtime.
2|Page
,b. wake Margie after she has been asleep for about 5 minutes and ask her what she's dreaming.
c. make an all-night audiotape of the sounds Margie makes while sleeping.
d. wake Margie after 5 minutes of REM sleep and ask her what she's dreaming.
e. use posthypnotic suggestion to increase the chances of dream recall
• d. wake Margie after 5 minutes of REM sleep and ask her what she is
dreaming
Students routinely underestimate how much time it will take them to complete assigned course
projects. This best illustrates the impact of
a. overconfidence.
b. the availability heuristic.
c. the representativeness heuristic.
d. framing.
e. fixation
• overconfidence
Working in a community mental health center, Dr. Thatcher treats adults who suffer from severe
depression. Dr. Thatcher is most likely a(n) ________ psychologist
a. clinical
b. social
c. industrial-organizational
d. developmental
e. personality
• clinical
3|Page
, Bandura's experiments indicate that ________ is important in the process of learning.
a. shaping
b. secondary reinforcement
c. respondent behavior
d. generalization
e. modeling
• e. modeling
Memories are primed by
a. the serial position effect.
b. retrieval cues.
c. source amnesia.
d. repression.
e. retroactive interference.
• b. retrieval cues
As the retinal image of a horse galloping toward you becomes larger, it is unlikely that the horse
will appear to grow larger. This best illustrates the phenomenon of
a. binocular cues.
b. size constancy.
c. closure.
d. linear perspective.
4|Page
