2026 AP Physics 1 – U.S. Exam Deep Analysis & Sample Questions

By Lawrence, AP Content Analyst at AllSatPapers · Cross-year archive: 2022, 2024, 2025 (U.S. & International), 2026 (U.S. & International)

The 2026 AP Physics 1 U.S. exam is the most transparent window we have ever had into how the College Board builds this test — because when you place it next to the 2025 U.S. paper, roughly 11 of its 40 multiple-choice questions are last year's items, recycled nearly verbatim. A gauge-pressure question that appeared as item 1238 on the 2025 U.S. exam reappears, unchanged, as Question 24 in 2026. A pipe-continuity question from 2025 (item 1248) is back as Question 35. If you worked through real AP Physics 1 past papers before sitting the 2026 exam, you had effectively seen a quarter of Section I already.

Three more sharp findings from our archive comparison: (1) the 2025 format reset is now locked in — 40 single-correct MCQ and 4 FRQ, with the old 50-question section and its five "select two answers" items gone for good; (2) fluids, which moved from Physics 2 into Physics 1 in 2025, is now a guaranteed 4–6 question block plus a frequent free-response anchor; and (3) rotation remains the heaviest single topic on every paper we have archived, every year, without exception. Below, we break the 2026 U.S. paper apart with real questions, real question numbers, and AP Physics 1 practice questions you can use to calibrate your preparation right now.

Quick Exam Overview

• Exam window: May 2026, College Board AP administration (U.S. version analyzed here; the International/Asia version is a parallel form built on the same blueprint).
• Section I: 40 multiple-choice questions, single-correct only, ~80 minutes. No multi-select items — those disappeared after 2024.
• Section II: 4 free-response questions, ~100 minutes: a graphing/derivation question, an experimental-design question with a linear graph, a qualitative paragraph-justification question, and a conservation/bar-chart question.
• Curriculum: fluids is in (pressure, buoyancy, continuity, Bernoulli/Torricelli); waves moved out to Physics 2.

Topic weighting on the 2026 U.S. paper, by question number: rotation/angular momentum (Q2, 7, 17, 26, 36 + FRQ 44), energy (Q6, 8, 9, 19, 21, 34, 39), momentum/collisions (Q3, 12, 14, 20, 28), fluids (Q10, 24, 30, 35), SHM/oscillation (Q1, 11, 40), kinematics/projectiles (Q5, 22, 27, 31, 33, 37 + FRQ 41), gravitation (Q18, 29, 32), and experimental design (FRQ 43).

Real Question Deep-Dive — Part 1: How the 2026 U.S. Paper Opens

The first two questions of a Physics 1 paper are never accidental — they set the conceptual register for the whole section. Here are the actual openers of the 2026 U.S. exam, quoted verbatim, with our analysis.

Question 1 — SHM Energy From a Graph

What it tests and why it's tricky: this is an energy-bookkeeping question wearing a graph costume. Students who reach for x(t) instead of reading U(t) directly will invert the logic and pick a zero-crossing. It signals the 2026 paper's favorite move: graph-first, equation-second. Notice the same skill appears at Q9 (energy bar charts) and Q11 (SHM acceleration and period expressions).

Question 2 — Rotational Inertia of a Spheres-Rod System

What it signals: rotation at Question 2. In 2024 the U.S. paper put a rotational-kinematics graph at Q2 (a disk slowing under constant torque); in 2026 it is rotational inertia at Q2 and angular momentum at Q7. Rotation has opened or nearly opened the MCQ section for three consecutive years. If your rotation unit is shaky, the first five minutes of the exam will tell.

Cross-Year Pattern Analysis: The U.S. Paper in Context

This is where the archive earns its keep. Placing the 2026 U.S. paper beside the 2025 U.S. exam, the 2026 International version, and the old-format 2024/2022 papers reveals three patterns that matter for anyone taking the 2026 AP Physics 1 exam or preparing for the next cycle.

Pattern 1 — Question-bank recycling is real and measurable. The 2026 U.S. paper reuses at least 11 items nearly verbatim from the 2025 U.S. exam: impulse of a bouncing ball (2025 item 1226 → 2026 Q12), energy bar charts of a sphere (1219 → Q9), the books-chair-student angular momentum graph (1220 → Q7), SHM acceleration/time expressions (1223 → Q11), gravitational force vectors between spheres (1231 → Q18), ramp energy dissipation (1233 → Q19), sticking-collision center-of-mass momentum (1232 → Q20), equilateral-triangle displacements (1246 → Q31), gauge-pressure depth (1238 → Q24), fluid mass in a cylinder (1241 → Q30), and the square-to-circle pipe (1248 → Q35). That is more than 25% of Section I.

Pattern 2 — Fluids is now a fixed block. The 2022 paper contains zero fluids questions; the sampled 2024 papers contain none. From 2025 onward, every Physics 1 paper carries 4–6 fluids MCQ plus, frequently, a fluids FRQ. The 2026 U.S. paper has four (Q10 buoyant force on suspended cubes, Q24 gauge pressure, Q30 fluid mass, Q35 continuity), and the 2026 Asia paper has six (Q5, 9, 14, 23, 30, 33) plus FRQ 3.

Pattern 3 — The FRQ rubric language has been identical for four years. The force-diagram instruction "draw and label the forces (not components)… each force must be represented by a distinct arrow starting on, and pointing away from" appears in 2022 FRQ 1(a), 2024 U.S. FRQ 3(a), 2025 International 3374, and 2026 Asia FRQ 1 Ai — word for word. The derivation boilerplate "Begin your derivation by writing a fundamental physics principle or an equation from the reference information" appears at 2025 U.S. 1254 and 1257, 2026 U.S. FRQ 41/42/44, and 2026 Asia FRQ 1. Students who have drilled real papers walk in already knowing the instructions.

Real Question Deep-Dive — Part 2: The Recycling Evidence

These three questions are the ones we consider most instructive for 2026-style preparation — two of them are literally the same question two years running.

The Gauge-Pressure Question — 2025 U.S. Item 1238 = 2026 U.S. Q24

Analysis: this item is the purest proof in our archive that the College Board's new-format item bank recycles at scale. A student who drilled the 2025 U.S. paper met this exact question — same fluid density, same target pressure, same choices — in May 2026. The physics is one line; the trap is unit discipline. Fluids items of this "one-formula numeric" type (also Q30's fluid mass and 2026 Asia Q30's absolute-pressure height) are the fastest points on the paper if you've practiced them, and mystifying if fluids still feels like a "new" unit to you.

The Pipe-Continuity Question — 2025 U.S. Item 1248 = 2026 U.S. Q35

Analysis: continuity appears on every new-format paper in some disguise — 2025 International 3354 (diameter d → d/3, answer 9v), 2026 Asia Q23 (volume flow rates at two diameters), and here. The geometry changes; the skill never does. Note how the 2026 U.S. paper places this at Q35 — late-section, where fatigue makes students forget to square the radius.

FRQ 41 — The Fountain Projectile (2026 U.S.)

Analysis: FRQ 41 is the quantitative graphing/derivation archetype — the same slot occupied by 2025 U.S. 1254 (sketch p_x(t) for a block-cart system, then derive the final speed). Even the framing device repeats: sketch first, derive second, justify third. Notice also that a fluids element (volume flow rate, part A iii) is braided into a kinematics FRQ — the clearest sign yet that fluids is not a bolt-on but a core strand of the redesigned Physics 1.

2026 Exam Deep-Dive & Preparation Strategies

Predicted difficulty: the 2026 U.S. paper sits at the same difficulty as 2025 — deliberately so, given the item overlap. The hard spots cluster where they always do: multi-concept rotation (Q36's sliding-plus-rotating disk total KE), static equilibrium reasoning (Q25's two blocks against a wall), and the paragraph-justification FRQ parts. Expect the score distributions to look like 2025's.

Priority topics, in observed order of weight:

• Rotation and angular momentum — 6+ MCQ every year plus an FRQ slot (2026 U.S. FRQ 44; 2026 Asia FRQ 1). Master torque, rotational inertia, L = Iω, and torque–time / L–t graphs.
• Energy — bar charts (Q9), dissipation on ramps (Q19), system-choice reasoning, and work from F–x graphs (Q21).
• Momentum — collisions, impulse, center of mass; 2026 U.S. Q14 and Q28 both test elastic vs. inelastic bookkeeping.
• Fluids — pressure-depth, buoyancy, continuity, Bernoulli/Torricelli. Four to six guaranteed MCQ.
• SHM — energy graphs, period scaling, x(t) equations (Q1, Q11, Q40).

Study hacks that the evidence supports:

• Drill the 2025 U.S. paper like it's a practice round for 2026 — because it literally was. A quarter of 2026 Section I came from it. Work every item until you can explain not just the answer but the trap in each distractor.
• Timing: ~2 minutes per MCQ. Single-correct format means you never leave blanks — there is no multi-select penalty structure anymore. Flag the rotation-heavy late items (Q30–40) for a second pass.
• FRQ leverage: memorize the boilerplate. Every derivation begins with "a fundamental physics principle or an equation from the reference information" — write the principle (conservation of energy, Newton's second law, τ = Iα) first, in symbols, before substituting. That first line is a scored point by itself.
• Force diagrams: practice the exact rubric — "forces (not components)," distinct arrows starting on and pointing away from the point of application. The wording has not changed since 2022.
• Paragraph questions: the rubric demands "qualitative reasoning beyond referencing equations." Train yourself to argue in sentences: identify the relevant principle, state what changes and what stays constant, then conclude.

Top Study Resources

• AllSatPapers Ultimate AP Physics 1 2026 Study Bundle — the real 2022, 2024, 2025 (U.S. and International), and 2026 (U.S. and International) papers analyzed in this guide, so you can drill the exact recycled items and FRQ archetypes documented above.
• College Board AP Physics 1 Course and Exam Description — the official framework and the source of the "reference information" equation sheet quoted in every derivation FRQ.
• AP Classroom topic questions — useful for unit-by-unit checks, especially the new fluids unit.
• Flipping Physics / Khan Academy AP Physics 1 — reputable free video review for torque, angular momentum, and buoyancy fundamentals.

Final Thoughts

The 2026 U.S. Physics 1 paper tells a remarkably consistent story. The format that arrived in 2025 — 40 single-correct MCQ, 4 FRQ, fluids in, waves out — is now the settled shape of the exam. The topic hierarchy is stable: rotation first, energy and momentum close behind, fluids as the guaranteed new block. And the item bank turns over more slowly than most students realize: when one exam in four of Section I has already appeared, nearly word for word, on the previous year's paper, the highest-leverage preparation available is not a summary sheet or a rumor about what's "usually tested" — it is the real papers themselves, worked carefully, question by question, until the patterns above feel familiar. That familiarity is what a 5 is made of. You can absolutely do this — and the evidence says past-paper practice is how.

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