• 61 questions

AP Psych Unit 3 Practice Test

Unofficial multiple-choice practice for Unit 3 of AP Psychology, Development and Learning.

In one week a researcher tests the vocabulary of separate groups of 6-year-olds, 10-year-olds and 14-year-olds and compares the groups. Which design is this?

Pick an answer, then press Check answer. Then you see Correct or Not quite, with the reason. Keys: A to D pick, Enter checks.

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Unofficial practice questions, not affiliated with the College Board. Bank checked October 8, 2026.

Next step Next: AP Psych Unit 4 practice testBack to Unit 1: biological bases

All 61 questions

Topic 3.1: Themes and methods 3

  • A researcher tests the same 200 children at ages 6, 10 and 14 to see how each child's vocabulary grows. Which design is this? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "longitudinal design"; course topic 3.1
  • In one week a researcher tests the vocabulary of separate groups of 6-year-olds, 10-year-olds and 14-year-olds and compares the groups. Which design is this? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "cross-sectional design"; course topic 3.1
  • Why is a cross-sectional study a weak way to measure how individuals change with age? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "cross-sectional design"; course topic 3.1

Topic 3.2: Physical development 7

  • A newborn turns her head and starts making sucking motions when her cheek is gently stroked. What is she showing? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "rooting reflex"; course topic 3.2
  • How does a sensitive period differ from a critical period? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "sensitive period"; course topic 3.2
  • Soon after hatching, ducklings begin to follow the first moving object they see. What is this learning process called? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "imprinting"; course topic 3.2
  • The visual cliff apparatus was built to study the development of which ability in infants? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "visual cliff"; course topic 3.2
  • What is the term for any agent that can cause developmental abnormalities in a fetus? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "teratogen"; course topic 3.2
  • Which of these is a fine motor skill? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "fine motor" and "gross motor"; course topic 3.2
  • Which of these is a secondary sex characteristic that develops in adolescence? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "sex characteristic"; course topic 3.2
Show all 61 questions (51 more)

Topic 3.3: Gender and sexual orientation 2

  • Children in a culture learn which behaviors, traits and attitudes are expected of boys and of girls. What is that expected pattern called? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "gender role" and "socialization"; course topic 3.3
  • In psychology, how do the terms sex and gender differ? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "sex"; course topic 3.3

Topic 3.4: Cognitive development 10

  • A 4-year-old watches juice poured from a short, wide glass into a tall, thin one and says there is now more juice. Which understanding does the child lack? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "conservation"; course topic 3.4
  • A 5-year-old secretly moves his sister's candy, then correctly predicts she will look for it where she left it. What does his prediction show? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "theory of mind"; course topic 3.4
  • A 9-year-old reasons logically about beads and blocks she can handle but struggles with purely hypothetical problems. Which of Piaget's stages is she in? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "concrete operational stage" and "formal operational stage"; course topic 3.4
  • A child cannot finish a puzzle alone but can with a few hints from an older cousin. In Vygotsky's terms, where does the puzzle lie for this child? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "zone of proximal development"; course topic 3.4
  • A preschooler says the moon follows the family car "because it likes us." Which feature of preoperational thought is this? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "animism"; course topic 3.4
  • A toddler who knows the word "dog" sees a cat and calls it "dog." In Piaget's terms, what is the child doing? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "Piagetian theory"; course topic 3.4
  • A tutor gives a student a lot of support with long division at first, then less and less as the student gains skill. What is this teaching approach called? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "scaffolding"; course topic 3.4
  • An older adult's large vocabulary and wide general knowledge are examples of which kind of intelligence? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "Cattell-Horn theory of intelligence"; course topic 3.4
  • At 5 months a baby stops looking for a toy once a blanket covers it. At 10 months she lifts the blanket and takes the toy. What has she developed? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "object permanence"; course topic 3.4
  • On a phone call, a 3-year-old nods instead of saying yes, sure that her grandfather can see what she sees. What does Piaget call this? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "egocentrism" and "Piagetian theory"; course topic 3.4

Topic 3.5: Language development 5

  • A 2-year-old says "want cookie" and "daddy go." What is this kind of speech called? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "telegraphic speech"; course topic 3.5
  • A 4-year-old says "I have two foots." What kind of error is this? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "overgeneralization"; course topic 3.5
  • How many morphemes are in the word "books"? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "morpheme"; course topic 3.5
  • In English, the sounds /p/ and /b/ are what tell "pan" from "ban." What is each of these sounds? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "phoneme"; course topic 3.5
  • In which order do children typically pass through these stages of language development? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "cooing" and "babbling" and "one-word stage" and "telegraphic speech"; course topic 3.5

Topic 3.6: Social-emotional development 11

  • A 10-month-old who used to settle with any sitter now cries hard each time his father leaves the room. What is this normal reaction called? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "separation anxiety"; course topic 3.6
  • A 14-year-old wants to stay home from school because of one small pimple, sure that everyone will stare at it all day. What is she showing? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "imaginary audience"; course topic 3.6
  • A 30-year-old feels "behind" because most people her age in her community have already married and had children. Which idea explains the feeling? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "social clock"; course topic 3.6
  • A 50-year-old spends her evenings mentoring new coworkers and coaching a youth team because she wants to give something to younger people. Which of Erikson's stages does this reflect? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "generativity versus stagnation"; course topic 3.6
  • A high school junior tries out different friend groups, styles and career ideas while working out who she is. Which of Erikson's stages is she in? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "identity versus identity confusion"; course topic 3.6
  • A student has always planned to become a dentist because her parents chose that career for her, and she has never looked into anything else. Which identity status is this? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "identity status model"; course topic 3.6
  • A teenager is sure that nobody has ever felt what he feels and that the bad things that happen to other people could not happen to him. What is this belief called? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "personal fable"; course topic 3.6
  • In ecological systems theory, the values and traditions of the wider society belong to which system? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "macrosystem"; course topic 3.6
  • In the Strange Situation, a toddler plays confidently while her mother is in the room, is mildly upset when she leaves, and goes straight to her when she returns. Which attachment pattern is this? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "secure attachment"; course topic 3.6
  • Parents set clear limits on their daughter's behavior, and within those limits they encourage her to make her own choices. Which parenting style is this? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "parenting"; course topic 3.6
  • Young monkeys were given a wire "mother" that held a feeding bottle and a cloth "mother" that did not. They stayed longer on the cloth one. What does the finding suggest about attachment? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "contact comfort"; course topic 3.6

Topic 3.7: Classical conditioning 8

  • A conditioned eye blink to a tone has been extinguished. The next day the tone sounds again and the blink briefly returns. What is this called? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "spontaneous recovery"; course topic 3.7
  • A family moves into an apartment beside the train tracks. Within weeks they hardly notice the trains that kept waking them at first. What has occurred? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "habituation"; course topic 3.7
  • A puff of air to the eye makes a person blink. In a study a tone sounds just before each puff. Before any learning has taken place, what is the blink to the puff? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "unconditioned response"; course topic 3.7
  • A therapist helps a boy who fears dogs by having a calm dog sit at a distance while the boy enjoys a favorite game, until the dog brings on relaxed feelings instead of fear. Which technique is this? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "counterconditioning"; course topic 3.7
  • A toddler startled by a loud vacuum cleaner now also cries at the sound of a hair dryer and a blender. What is this spread of the response called? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "stimulus generalization"; course topic 3.7
  • After a tone has come to trigger an eye blink, the tone is sounded many times with no puff of air, and the blinking to the tone fades. What is this process called? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "extinction"; course topic 3.7
  • Each time a cat's owner opens a squeaky pantry door, she then feeds the cat. Soon the cat's mouth waters at the squeak alone. What has the squeak become? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "conditioned stimulus"; course topic 3.7
  • Hours after eating clam chowder for the first time, Luis came down with a stomach bug. Years later he still cannot stand the taste. What does his case show? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "conditioned taste aversion"; course topic 3.7

Topic 3.8: Operant conditioning 11

  • A basketball player happened to tap his left shoe before a perfect free throw and now taps it before every shot. What is this an example of? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "superstitious behavior"; course topic 3.8
  • A class has a quiz every Friday. Students study very little early in the week and more and more as Friday nears. Which schedule produces this scalloped pattern? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "fixed-interval schedule"; course topic 3.8
  • A coach adds extra laps each time a player arrives late, and lateness drops. Which kind of consequence is this? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "positive punishment"; course topic 3.8
  • A fruit picker is paid after every tenth basket she fills. Which schedule of reinforcement is this? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "fixed-ratio schedule" and "continuous reinforcement"; course topic 3.8
  • A student finds that putting on headphones ends the noise of her roommate's television, so she reaches for them more and more often. What kind of consequence is strengthening the behavior? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "negative reinforcement"; course topic 3.8
  • A teenager loses his phone for a week after missing curfew, and he misses curfew less often afterward. Which kind of consequence is this? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "negative punishment"; course topic 3.8
  • After failing several tests no matter how he prepared, a student stops trying, and he turns down the tutoring that is later offered. What does this pattern show? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "learned helplessness"; course topic 3.8
  • In a video game a rare item drops after an unpredictable number of defeated enemies, about one time in ten on average. Which schedule of reinforcement is this? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "variable-ratio schedule"; course topic 3.8
  • Raccoons taught to drop coins in a container began instead to rub the coins together and dip them in and out, as they do when washing food. What is this called? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "instinctive drift"; course topic 3.8
  • To teach a dog to roll over, a trainer first rewards lying down, then lying on one side, then the full roll. What is this method called? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "shaping"; course topic 3.8
  • Which of these is a secondary reinforcer? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "secondary reinforcement" and "primary reinforcement"; course topic 3.8

Topic 3.9: Social and cognitive learning 4

  • A 4-year-old sees her brother praised for clearing his plate and, without being asked, starts clearing her own. Which kind of learning is this? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "observational learning"; course topic 3.9
  • A passenger never tried to learn the route to her new school. On the first day she has to cycle there alone, she finds she knows every turn. Which kind of learning does this show? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "latent learning"; course topic 3.9
  • After twenty minutes of getting nowhere on a puzzle, the answer suddenly comes to a student all at once. What is this kind of learning called? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "insight"; course topic 3.9
  • Asked for a shortcut across campus that she has never walked, a student pictures the layout of the buildings and describes a correct path. What is she drawing on? APA Dictionary of Psychology, "cognitive map"; course topic 3.9

How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to Unit 3 (Development and Learning) of the College Board's AP Psychology Course and Exam Description, https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/ap-psychology-course-and-exam-description.pdf, read 2026-10-08. Each fact was read on 2026-10-08 in the entry of the APA Dictionary of Psychology (American Psychological Association, https://dictionary.apa.org) named under its question. Licence: Own work.

How it works

This AP Psychology Unit 3 practice test has 61 questions of our own on Development and Learning, from infant reflexes to reinforcement schedules. Unofficial practice, not affiliated with the College Board, which neither wrote nor endorsed these questions.

Read the full guide

What Unit 3 covers

Unit 3 has nine topics in the College Board's course description, read October 8, 2026. Six are on development: themes and methods (3 questions here), physical (7), gender (2), cognitive (10), language (5) and social-emotional (11). Three are on learning: classical conditioning (8), operant conditioning (11), and social and cognitive learning (4). The split between topics is our own.

Checking an answer

Each answer names the entry of the APA Dictionary of Psychology where its fact was read, so you can open the entry and check us.

Two halves, one unit

Development questions often turn on a child's age or stage, and learning questions on what follows a behavior. Read each scenario for that clue first.

  • Reinforcement makes a behavior more likely and punishment less likely. Positive means something is added, negative means something is taken away.
  • Tie each of Piaget's four stages to one milestone: object permanence, pretend play, conservation, abstract thought.
  • Ratio schedules count responses and interval schedules count time. Fixed means the same every time; variable means it changes.

Questions and answers

What is Unit 3 in AP Psychology?

Development and Learning. It runs from physical, cognitive, language and social-emotional development across the lifespan to classical conditioning, operant conditioning and learning by observation.

How much of the AP Psychology exam is Unit 3?

15 to 25% of the 75 multiple-choice questions, the same range the College Board gives each of the five units.

Is this the AP Psych Unit 3 Progress Check?

No. Teachers assign that in AP Classroom, and the College Board lists about 20 multiple-choice questions for Unit 3. Every question here was written for this site from the public outline, and none copies or rewords a College Board question.

Are the psychosexual stages on the AP Psychology exam?

No. The course description puts the psychosexual stage theory outside the scope of the exam. It also leaves out the stages of prenatal development and delayed, trace, simultaneous and backward conditioning.

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