• 45 questions

AP Physics Projectile Motion Practice Test

Unofficial multiple-choice practice for topic 1.5 of AP Physics 1: vector components, horizontal launches and launches at an angle.

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A ball rolls off a level table at 2.0 m/s and lands 0.50 s later. How far from the base of the table does it land?

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Unofficial practice questions, not affiliated with the College Board. Bank checked October 11, 2026.

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All 45 questions with answers

Horizontal launches 11

  • A ball is launched horizontally at the same speed from a platform four times as high as before. How does its time in the air change? Answer: It doubles. Source: AP Physics 1 Course and Exam Description, essential knowledge 1.5.B.1; course topic 1.5
  • A ball is launched horizontally from a table. The launch is repeated from the same height at twice the speed. How do the time in the air and the landing distance change? Answer: The time is the same and the distance doubles. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion"; course topic 1.5
  • A ball is thrown horizontally from a height of 20 m. With g = 10 m/s², how long does it take to reach the ground? Answer: 2.0 s. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion" and essential knowledge 1.5.B.1; course topic 1.5
  • A ball rolls off a level table at 2.0 m/s and lands 0.50 s later. How far from the base of the table does it land? Answer: 1.0 m. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion"; course topic 1.5
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Horizontal launches, continued

  • A ball rolls off a table 1.25 m high and lands 1.5 m from the base of the table. With g = 10 m/s², how fast was it moving as it left the table? Answer: 3.0 m/s. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion" and essential knowledge 1.5.B.1; course topic 1.5
  • A crate is released from a plane that flies level at constant velocity. With no air resistance, where is the crate when it reaches the ground? Answer: Directly below the plane. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion"; course topic 1.5
  • A dart is thrown horizontally at 10 m/s, aimed straight at the center of a board 2.0 m away. With g = 10 m/s², how far below the center does it strike? Answer: 0.20 m. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion" and essential knowledge 1.5.B.1; course topic 1.5
  • A marble leaves a table horizontally at 3.0 m/s. With g = 10 m/s², what is its speed 0.40 s later, while still in the air? Answer: 5.0 m/s. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion"; course topic 1.5
  • A stone is thrown horizontally at 15 m/s from a cliff 45 m high. With g = 10 m/s², how far from the foot of the cliff does it land? Answer: 45 m. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion" and essential knowledge 1.5.B.1; course topic 1.5
  • A stone is thrown horizontally from a bridge. With up as positive and g = 10 m/s², what is its vertical velocity 1.5 s later, while still in the air? Answer: −15 m/s. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion"; course topic 1.5
  • One ball is dropped from rest. At the same instant a second ball is thrown horizontally from the same height. With no air resistance, which reaches the level ground first? Answer: They land at the same time. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion"; course topic 1.5

Launches at an angle 14

  • A ball is kicked from the ground at an angle. With no air resistance, what is its velocity at the highest point of its path? Answer: Horizontal, equal to the horizontal component at launch. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion"; course topic 1.5
  • A ball is launched at 20 m/s at 30° above level ground. Taking sin 30° = 0.50 and g = 10 m/s², how long does it take to reach its highest point? Answer: 1.0 s. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion"; course topic 1.5
  • A ball is launched at 25 m/s at 53° above level ground. Taking sin 53° = 0.80, cos 53° = 0.60 and g = 10 m/s², how far away does it land? Answer: 60 m. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion" and essential knowledge 1.5.B.1; course topic 1.5
  • A ball is launched from level ground and lands at the same height. With no air resistance, how does its landing speed compare with its launch speed? Answer: They are equal. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion"; course topic 1.5
  • A ball is launched from level ground. The launch is repeated at the same angle with twice the speed. With no air resistance, how does the range change? Answer: It is four times as great. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion"; course topic 1.5
  • A ball is thrown from the top of a 15 m cliff with an upward vertical velocity component of 10 m/s. With g = 10 m/s², how long is it in the air before it hits the ground below? Answer: 3.0 s. Source: AP Physics 1 Course and Exam Description, essential knowledge 1.5.B.1; course topic 1.5
  • A ball leaves level ground with a vertical velocity component of 20 m/s. With g = 10 m/s², how long is it in the air before it lands? Answer: 4.0 s. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion"; course topic 1.5
  • A ball leaves level ground with velocity components of 12 m/s horizontally and 15 m/s vertically. With g = 10 m/s², how far away does it land? Answer: 36 m. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion" and essential knowledge 1.5.B.1; course topic 1.5
  • A ball leaves the ground with a vertical velocity component of 20 m/s. With g = 10 m/s², what is the greatest height it reaches? Answer: 20 m. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion"; course topic 1.5
  • A launcher on level ground fires one shell at 20° above the horizontal and a second at 70°, both at the same speed. With no air resistance, which lands farther away? Answer: Neither; they land at the same distance. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion"; course topic 1.5
  • A projectile is launched with an upward vertical velocity component of 12 m/s. With g = 10 m/s², what is its vertical velocity 1.0 s after launch? Answer: 2.0 m/s upward. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion"; course topic 1.5
  • On level ground with no air resistance, which launch angle gives the greatest range for a given launch speed? Answer: 45°. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion"; course topic 1.5
  • The same launcher fires one shell at 20° and a second at 70°, both at the same speed over level ground. Which shell is in the air longer? Answer: The 70° shell. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion"; course topic 1.5
  • What is the acceleration of a projectile at the highest point of its path, with no air resistance? Answer: g, directed downward. Source: AP Physics 1 Course and Exam Description, essential knowledge 1.3.A.3 and 1.5.B.2; course topic 1.5

Graphs and reasoning 10

  • A ball rolls off a table. A student has only a meterstick. Which two measurements let the student find the speed of the ball as it left the table? Answer: The height of the table and the horizontal distance to the landing spot. Source: AP Physics 1 Course and Exam Description, essential knowledge 1.5.B.1; course topic 1.5
  • A projectile is launched at an angle. With no air resistance, what does a graph of its horizontal position against time look like? Answer: A straight line with a constant slope. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion"; course topic 1.5
  • A projectile is launched upward at an angle, with up as positive. What does a graph of its vertical velocity against time look like? Answer: A straight line sloping downward that crosses zero at the peak. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion"; course topic 1.5
  • A projectile launched at an angle is on its way up. With no air resistance, what is happening to its speed? Answer: It is decreasing, since the vertical component is shrinking. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion"; course topic 1.5
  • A steel ball and a wooden ball of the same size are launched at the same speed and angle. With no air resistance, which travels farther? Answer: Neither; they land at the same distance. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion"; course topic 1.5
  • How does the course description define projectile motion? Answer: Two-dimensional motion with zero acceleration in one dimension and constant acceleration in the other. Source: AP Physics 1 Course and Exam Description, essential knowledge 1.5.B.2; course topic 1.5
  • On a world where g is one quarter of its value on Earth, a ball is launched horizontally from the same height and at the same speed as on Earth. How far does it travel before landing? Answer: Twice as far. Source: AP Physics 1 Course and Exam Description, essential knowledge 1.5.B.1; course topic 1.5
  • Which quantity stays constant during the whole flight of a projectile, with no air resistance? Answer: Its acceleration. Source: AP Physics 1 Course and Exam Description, essential knowledge 1.5.B.2; course topic 1.5
  • Why can the horizontal and vertical parts of a projectile's motion be worked out separately? Answer: Neither motion affects the other. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion" and essential knowledge 1.5.B.1; course topic 1.5
  • With no air resistance, what is the shape of a projectile's path through the air? Answer: A parabola. Source: Wikipedia, "Projectile motion"; course topic 1.5

Vectors and their components 10

  • A ball is launched at 20 m/s at 30° above the horizontal. Taking sin 30° = 0.50 and cos 30° = 0.87, what is the vertical component of its launch velocity? Answer: 10 m/s. Source: AP Physics 1 Course and Exam Description, essential knowledge 1.5.A.3; course topic 1.5
  • A ball is launched at the same speed twice, first at 30° and then at 60° above the horizontal. How do the components of the launch velocity change? Answer: The horizontal one gets smaller and the vertical one gets larger. Source: AP Physics 1 Course and Exam Description, essential knowledge 1.5.A.3; course topic 1.5
  • A displacement of 5.0 m points 37° above the +x axis. Taking sin 37° = 0.60 and cos 37° = 0.80, what is its x-component? Answer: 4.0 m. Source: AP Physics 1 Course and Exam Description, essential knowledge 1.5.A.3; course topic 1.5
  • A force vector points straight along the +y axis. What is its x-component? Answer: Zero. Source: AP Physics 1 Course and Exam Description, essential knowledge 1.5.A.2; course topic 1.5
  • A hiker walks 30 m east and then 40 m north. What is the magnitude of the hiker's displacement? Answer: 50 m. Source: AP Physics 1 Course and Exam Description, essential knowledge 1.5.A.1; course topic 1.5
  • A launch velocity has equal horizontal and vertical components. What is the launch angle above the horizontal? Answer: 45°. Source: AP Physics 1 Course and Exam Description, essential knowledge 1.5.A.3; course topic 1.5
  • A projectile's velocity at one instant has components vx = 6.0 m/s and vy = −8.0 m/s, with up as positive. What is its speed, and which way is it moving vertically? Answer: 10 m/s, moving downward. Source: AP Physics 1 Course and Exam Description, essential knowledge 1.5.A.1; course topic 1.5
  • A vector of magnitude A makes an angle θ with the +x axis. Which expression gives its y-component? Answer: A sin θ. Source: AP Physics 1 Course and Exam Description, essential knowledge 1.5.A.3; course topic 1.5
  • A velocity has components vx = 3.0 m/s and vy = 4.0 m/s. What is its magnitude? Answer: 5.0 m/s. Source: AP Physics 1 Course and Exam Description, essential knowledge 1.5.A.1; course topic 1.5
  • Both components of a velocity vector are doubled. What happens to the vector? Answer: Its magnitude doubles and its direction stays the same. Source: AP Physics 1 Course and Exam Description, essential knowledge 1.5.A.1; course topic 1.5

How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to topic 1.5 (Vectors and Motion in Two Dimensions) of Unit 1, Kinematics, of the College Board's AP Physics 1: Algebra-Based Course and Exam Description, effective fall 2024, https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/ap-physics-1-course-and-exam-description.pdf, read 2026-10-11. Every numeric answer is worked from the numbers the question prints, with g = 10 m/s² as the description sets, and was worked out a second time on 2026-10-11. The principle behind each answer was read on 2026-10-11 in the Wikipedia article or the essential knowledge statement named under the question. Licence: Own work. Short quotations from the public documents named under each question.

How it works

This AP Physics projectile motion practice test has 45 questions of our own on topic 1.5 of AP Physics 1, Vectors and Motion in Two Dimensions. It is unofficial; the College Board, owner of AP, neither wrote nor approved it.

Read the full guide

Where projectile motion sits

In the College Board's course description, read October 11, 2026, projectile motion is topic 1.5, the last of the five topics of Unit 1, Kinematics. The description divides the topic no further, so the four sets are ours: horizontal launches (11 questions), launches at an angle (14), graphs and reasoning (10), and vectors and their components (10).

Numbers and solutions

Every numeric question uses g = 10 m/s², the value the description sets for the exam, and prints the sine and cosine it needs. Each answer shows its working, then names the Wikipedia article or the line of the description behind it.

  • Split the launch velocity into components before anything else. Time is the only quantity the horizontal and vertical motions share.
  • At the top of the path the vertical velocity is zero. The acceleration is still g downward, and the horizontal velocity is unchanged.
  • On level ground, launch angles that add to 90° give the same range, and 45° gives the greatest.

Questions and answers

What unit is projectile motion in AP Physics 1?

Unit 1, Kinematics, under topic 1.5, Vectors and Motion in Two Dimensions. Unit 1 carries 10 to 15% of the multiple-choice section, which has 42 questions in 85 minutes, by the College Board's course and exam pages.

Is this an AP Physics vector and projectile practice test?

Yes. Ten questions resolve vectors into components and join them again, and 35 apply those components to projectiles.

What value of g does the AP Physics 1 exam use?

10 m/s². The course description says that value will be used wherever a number for g is required, and that students are not penalized for correctly using 9.8 or 9.81 m/s².

Does this projectile motion practice fit AP Physics C: Mechanics?

In part. Unit 1 of AP Physics C: Mechanics is also Kinematics, at 10 to 15% of its multiple-choice section, but that course is calculus-based. These questions follow AP Physics 1 and need algebra and trigonometry only.

Are these real AP Physics 1 exam questions?

No. Nothing here was taken from an AP exam, a Progress Check or a released form; those belong to the College Board. The 45 questions were written from the content of topic 1.5.

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