AP Psych units: All 5 units in the redesigned exam

The redesigned AP Psychology exam (first tested in May 2025) is organized into 5 CED units, each weighted 15-25% of the multiple-choice section. The redesign consolidated the previous 9-unit structure into 5 broader units, with research methods built into every unit as a science practice. Because the weight ranges overlap, plan revision around your weakest units rather than assuming one unit dominates.

This guide covers all 5 units, their weight, what's inside each, and where to spend your time first. If you want structured content coverage of the same units, Cognito's AP Psychology course walks through the CED with lessons and practice questions.

Unit 1 covers heredity, environment and evolution, the nervous system (neurons, neurotransmitters, psychoactive drugs, brain structures, endocrine system), sleep and consciousness, and sensation (visual and auditory processing, sensory thresholds).

What to prioritize: Neurotransmitter functions (dopamine, serotonin, GABA, glutamate, acetylcholine) and what happens when levels are too high or low, the roles of major brain structures (hippocampus, amygdala, cerebellum, four lobes of the cortex), and the stages of sleep with the physiological markers of each.

Unit 2 covers perception, thinking and problem solving (heuristics, biases, algorithms), memory (encoding, storage, retrieval, forgetting), and intelligence and achievement (theories, testing, validity issues).

What to prioritize: The multi-store model of memory (sensory, short-term/working, long-term) with specific examples of what fails at each stage, common cognitive biases (confirmation, availability, representativeness, anchoring) with examples, and the major intelligence theories (Spearman, Gardner, Sternberg) with their evidence.

Unit 3 covers developmental psychology (Piaget, Erikson, Kohlberg, attachment theory, adolescence, adulthood), communication and language development, and learning (classical conditioning, operant conditioning, observational learning).

What to prioritize: The stages of each major developmental theorist with specific age ranges and characteristics, the distinction between classical and operant conditioning with examples of each, and specific schedules of reinforcement and their behavioral effects.

Unit 4 covers social psychology (attribution, conformity, obedience, group behavior, prejudice, aggression, prosocial behavior) personality (psychodynamic, humanistic, trait, social-cognitive theories, plus personality assessment), and motivation and emotion.

What to prioritize: The classic social psychology studies (Milgram, Asch, Zimbardo, Bandura's Bobo doll) with the specific findings and their real-world applications, the fundamental attribution error and the related actor-observer bias, and the Big Five personality traits with specific behavioral correlates.

Unit 5 covers psychological disorders (anxiety, mood, dissociative, personality, schizophrenia, neurodevelopmental) using DSM-5 categories, therapeutic approaches (psychodynamic, cognitive, behavioral, humanistic, biomedical), and stress and health (stress responses, coping, positive psychology).

What to prioritize: The specific diagnostic criteria for the most-tested disorders (major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, OCD, PTSD, schizophrenia), the mechanism of each major therapy type with an example of what a session might look like, and the physiological stress response (sympathetic nervous system, HPA axis, effects of chronic stress on immune function).

The redesigned exam doesn't have research methods as its own unit; it's woven into all 5 units. The AAQ tests research design, operational definitions, statistics, ethics and generalizability, and the EBQ asks you to evaluate evidence from studies. Treating research methods as a small topic to cover in a week will cost you FRQ points.

The article-analysis FRQ specifically requires you to read a short research summary and answer questions about the methodology, threats to validity, and appropriate interpretation. This is where students who under-prepared research methods lose the most points. Build fluency with these concepts alongside the content units, not after.

If you're building a 10-week revision plan, a defensible split is roughly 1.5 weeks per unit, with the extra time going to whichever units your practice scores show are weakest. Weave research methods practice into every week, not as a separate block. The final 2 weeks should be full-timed FRQs and mock MCQ sets, not more content review.

AP Psych rewards students who can apply psychological concepts to novel scenarios, not just define terms. MCQs often give you a scenario and ask which concept is at work; the FRQs ask you to analyze a real study (AAQ) and build an evidence-based argument from sources (EBQ). Working through the 2025 and 2026 released FRQs on AP Central is one of the fastest ways to build the skills the exam wants.