The May 2027 Physics C: Mechanics exam
The exam is split evenly. Section I is 42 multiple-choice questions in 85 minutes, worth 50%. Section II is four free-response questions in 95 minutes, worth the other 50%: Mathematical Routines and Experimental Design and Analysis are each scored out of 10 points, Translation Between Representations out of 12 and Qualitative/Quantitative Translation out of 8.
College Board doesn’t give a separate weight for each free-response question, so the calculator counts every point the same: each is worth 1.25 percentage points, and each multiple-choice answer about 1.19. Translation Between Representations, with the most points, is the single biggest question on the exam.
A chart from before the redesign
Mechanics was rebuilt for 2024-25, and the 2012 practice exam behind these cutoffs belongs to the old course: 35 multiple-choice questions and three long free-response questions worth 15 points each. Only the half-and-half weighting survives, so read the result as a rough band rather than a forecast. The old chart’s lines were low (a 3 began at 33 of 90); whether the new exam needs as few points is something College Board hasn’t said.
Score your free-response answers with the 2025 or 2026 scoring guidelines, which use the new question types. Questions from before the redesign were built differently, so they don’t fit the four boxes here.
AP Physics C: Mechanics exam format, May 2027
| Part | Scored out of | Share of score |
|---|---|---|
| Section I: Multiple choice · 1 h 25 min · 50% | ||
| Multiple-choice questions correct | 42 | 50% |
| Section II: Free response · 1 h 35 min · 50% | ||
| Question 1 · Mathematical routines, 0–10 | 10 | 12.5% |
| Question 2 · Translation between representations, 0–12 | 12 | 15% |
| Question 3 · Experimental design and analysis, 0–10 | 10 | 12.5% |
| Question 4 · Qualitative/quantitative translation, 0–8 | 8 | 10% |
Estimated cutoffs
From the 2012 AP Physics C: Mechanics Practice Exam, scoring worksheet, College Board's newest published conversion chart for this subject (2012 exam: 35 multiple-choice questions (50%) and 3 free-response questions of 15 points (50%), before the 2024 course redesign). The calculator puts your weighted score on that chart's 0–90 scale.
| AP score | 2012 composite | Weighted score from |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | 54–90 | 59.4% |
| 4 | 42–53 | 46.1% |
| 3 | 33–41 | 36.1% |
| 2 | 25–32 | 27.2% |
| 1 | 0–24 | 0% |
AP Physics C: Mechanics score distributions
| Year | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2026 | 20% | 25% | 27% | 17% | 11% |
| May 2025 | 21.7% | 24.0% | 27.5% | 16.0% | 10.8% |
Share of students earning each score, from College Board's AP Physics C: Mechanics score distributions. 65,980 students took the exam in May 2025. The May 2026 figures are College Board's rounded whole percentages.