I85PREP
⌘ K
AEPA Physical Education (NT506) study materials
AEPA Physical Education (NT506) study resources

AEPA Physical Education (NT506) practice questions

One question at a time. Build your AEPA Physical Education (NT506) understanding.

First 50 of 200 questions. Each one lists the choices, the correct answer, and an explanation. The checker at the top of this page saves progress in this browser when it is available.

Continue in the practice tool above to load more questions, 50 at a time.

Question 1Motor Development and Movement Skills

Which of the following is classified as a locomotor skill?

  1. Balancing on one foot
  2. Throwing a beanbag
  3. Skipping Correct answer.
  4. Twisting at the waist

Explanation

Locomotor skills move the body from one location to another, and skipping is a locomotor pattern. Balancing and twisting are stability (non-locomotor) skills, while throwing is a manipulative skill.

Question 2Motor Development and Movement Skills

An infant's arms extend and then flex when the infant is startled or feels as if it is falling. Which reflex is described?

  1. Stepping reflex
  2. Palmar grasp reflex
  3. Moro reflex Correct answer.
  4. Rooting reflex

Explanation

The Moro reflex is a startle response in which the arms extend and then flex, often followed by a cry. It is present at birth and typically fades by about 4 to 6 months.

Question 3Motor Development and Movement Skills

Infants typically gain control of the head and neck before they can sit independently or walk. Which pattern of development does this illustrate?

  1. Cephalocaudal Correct answer.
  2. Integration
  3. Differentiation
  4. Proximodistal

Explanation

The cephalocaudal pattern describes development proceeding from head to tail, so head and neck control precedes trunk and leg control. Proximodistal development proceeds from the center of the body outward.

Question 4Motor Development and Movement Skills

Which task primarily requires fine motor control?

  1. Buttoning a shirt Correct answer.
  2. Galloping across the gym
  3. Catching a playground ball
  4. Hopping on one foot

Explanation

Fine motor skills involve small, precise movements using the hands and fingers, such as buttoning. Hopping, catching, and galloping are gross motor skills that recruit large muscle groups.

Question 5Motor Development and Movement Skills

Which skill is classified as a non-locomotor (stability) skill?

  1. Twisting Correct answer.
  2. Leaping
  3. Sliding
  4. Galloping

Explanation

Non-locomotor or stability skills are performed in place and include twisting, bending, and balancing. Sliding, galloping, and leaping all transport the body through space.

Question 6Motor Development and Movement Skills

Which of the following is a manipulative skill?

  1. Jumping in place
  2. Curling and stretching
  3. Striking a balloon Correct answer.
  4. Balancing on a beam

Explanation

Manipulative skills involve giving force to or receiving force from an object, such as striking a balloon. Balancing, curling, and jumping in place are stability or non-locomotor skills.

Question 7Motor Development and Movement Skills

Fundamental movement skills are most typically developed during which age period?

  1. Infancy (birth to 2 years)
  2. Early childhood (2 to 7 years) Correct answer.
  3. Late adulthood (65 years and older)
  4. Adolescence (12 to 18 years)

Explanation

The fundamental movement phase generally spans roughly ages 2 to 7, when children acquire and refine locomotor, stability, and manipulative patterns. Infancy is dominated by reflexive movement, and the specialized movement phase comes later.

Question 8Motor Development and Movement Skills

Which term refers to an increase in body size, as distinct from changes in movement behavior?

  1. Motor development
  2. Growth Correct answer.
  3. Motor learning
  4. Maturation

Explanation

Growth refers to an increase in physical size, such as height or weight. Motor development refers to changes in movement behavior over time, while motor learning is a relatively permanent change due to practice.

Question 9Motor Development and Movement Skills

A coach notices that a child's kicking pattern changes when the coach substitutes a larger, softer ball. This change is best explained by which category of constraints?

  1. Individual constraints
  2. Environmental constraints
  3. Task constraints Correct answer.
  4. Sociocultural constraints

Explanation

Task constraints include the goal of the task, rules, and equipment such as ball size or shape. Changing the ball alters the task itself, which can reshape the child's kicking pattern.

Question 10Motor Development and Movement Skills

A beginner makes frequent errors, relies on verbal cues, and cannot yet identify what went wrong after a trial. Which stage of motor learning does this describe?

  1. Autonomous stage
  2. Refinement stage
  3. Associative stage
  4. Cognitive stage Correct answer.

Explanation

In Fitts and Posner's cognitive stage, learners try to understand the skill, make many errors, and depend on explicit cues. The associative stage involves refinement, and the autonomous stage involves automatic performance.

Question 11Motor Development and Movement Skills

After a student throws, the teacher says, 'Your elbow dropped below shoulder level on that throw.' This statement is best classified as:

  1. Knowledge of performance Correct answer.
  2. Knowledge of results
  3. Knowledge about the outcome
  4. Motivational feedback

Explanation

Knowledge of performance provides information about the movement pattern itself, such as elbow position. Knowledge of results describes the outcome, such as whether the throw was accurate.

Question 12Motor Development and Movement Skills

Which practice schedule generally produces weaker performance during practice but better retention and transfer?

  1. Blocked practice
  2. Random practice Correct answer.
  3. Distributed practice
  4. Massed practice

Explanation

Random practice intermixes different tasks or variations, creating contextual interference that depresses practice performance but enhances retention and transfer. Blocked practice repeats one task and often yields better practice performance but weaker retention.

Question 13Motor Development and Movement Skills

Learning to catch a small ball improves a student's ability to catch a larger ball. This is an example of:

  1. Retroactive interference
  2. Negative transfer
  3. Positive transfer Correct answer.
  4. Zero transfer

Explanation

Positive transfer occurs when prior learning facilitates learning or performance of a new skill. Negative transfer occurs when prior learning interferes, and zero transfer means no effect.

Question 14Motor Development and Movement Skills

A teacher postpones accuracy-focused overhand throwing until students can consistently step with the opposite foot. This decision best reflects attention to:

  1. Developmental readiness Correct answer.
  2. Massed practice
  3. Observational modeling of the skill
  4. Overlearning

Explanation

Readiness refers to the developmental prerequisites that allow a learner to benefit from instruction in a particular skill. Waiting for a stable opposite-foot step reflects attention to the child's current movement capabilities.

Question 15Motor Development and Movement Skills

Which modification makes a static balance task easier for a young child?

  1. Feet apart on a firm floor Correct answer.
  2. Crossing the arms
  3. Standing on a narrow beam
  4. Closing the eyes

Explanation

A wider base of support and a firm surface increase stability by enlarging the area over which the center of gravity can move. Closing the eyes or narrowing the base makes balance more difficult.

Question 16Motor Development and Movement Skills

During the adolescent growth spurt, a temporary decline in coordination is most often attributed to:

  1. Decreased visual acuity
  2. Loss of muscle fiber types
  3. Rapid increases in limb length Correct answer.
  4. Reduced motivation to practice

Explanation

During the adolescent growth spurt, limb length increases rapidly, and neuromuscular control may lag temporarily, producing awkward or uncoordinated movement. Coordination usually improves as the body matures and practice continues.

Question 17Motor Development and Movement Skills

Compared with giving feedback after every trial, giving feedback after every third trial typically:

  1. Promotes retention and greater self-reliance Correct answer.
  2. Has no influence on learning
  3. Improves immediate performance but harms retention
  4. Eliminates the need for practice

Explanation

Reduced feedback frequency encourages learners to use intrinsic feedback and detect their own errors, which supports retention. High-frequency feedback can improve immediate performance but may create dependence on the teacher.

Question 18Motor Development and Movement Skills

A skill that is low in complexity and high in organization is best practiced as a:

  1. Whole task Correct answer.
  2. Segmented task
  3. Part task
  4. Progressive part task

Explanation

When a skill is low in complexity but high in organization, its parts are highly interdependent and difficult to isolate. Practicing the whole task preserves the coordination among components.

Question 19Motor Development and Movement Skills

A child throws a baseball, a beanbag, and a foam football with a similar overhand arm pattern. This similarity best supports the concept of:

  1. Closed-loop feedback control
  2. Reflex chaining
  3. A generalized motor program Correct answer.
  4. Practice specificity

Explanation

A generalized motor program is an abstract movement plan that can be adapted to different objects and contexts while preserving a similar coordination pattern. The child's similar overhand action across objects reflects such a common program.

Question 20Motor Development and Movement Skills

A student with average intelligence has persistent difficulty with catching, shoe tying, and handwriting, and these difficulties are not explained by a medical condition. This profile is most consistent with:

  1. Cerebral palsy with spasticity
  2. Visual impairment affecting motor planning
  3. Developmental coordination disorder Correct answer.
  4. Muscular dystrophy with progressive weakness

Explanation

Developmental coordination disorder involves persistent motor coordination difficulties that interfere with daily activities and are not better explained by a medical condition or intellectual disability. The academic and self-care difficulties described fit this pattern.

Question 21Motor Development and Movement Skills

According to Bernstein's work, a beginner often 'freezes' degrees of freedom early in learning in order to:

  1. Maximize movement variability
  2. Simplify the control problem Correct answer.
  3. Increase independent joint actions
  4. Eliminate the need for practice

Explanation

Bernstein proposed that beginners freeze or fix degrees of freedom to simplify the control problem and reduce unwanted variability. As learners gain skill, they release and coordinate additional degrees of freedom.

Question 22Motor Development and Movement Skills

A child cannot perform a mature hop until leg strength reaches a certain threshold, even with practice. In developmental theory, leg strength in this example is best described as a:

  1. Sensitive period
  2. Rate limiter Correct answer.
  3. Critical period
  4. Reflex

Explanation

A rate limiter is an individual constraint, such as strength or body size, that restricts the emergence of a skill until it reaches a sufficient level. It differs from a sensitive period, which is a window of enhanced responsiveness to experience.

Question 23Motor Development and Movement Skills

A student improves at balancing on a wobble board but shows little improvement in standing balance on a firm floor. This result best supports:

  1. The specificity of practice hypothesis Correct answer.
  2. Positive transfer of learning
  3. The schema theory of learning
  4. The variability of practice hypothesis

Explanation

The specificity hypothesis holds that learning is tied to the conditions practiced, so improvements may not transfer to a different balance task. Variability of practice would predict broader transfer, which was not observed.

Question 24Motor Development and Movement Skills

A toddler who is walking suddenly shifts to a running pattern as speed increases, without receiving instruction. From a dynamical systems perspective, this shift is best described as:

  1. Cephalocaudal development
  2. A reflex
  3. A rate limiter
  4. A phase transition Correct answer.

Explanation

In dynamical systems theory, a phase transition is a qualitative shift to a new movement pattern as a control parameter such as speed changes. The toddler's shift from walking to running is a classic example.

Question 25Motor Development and Movement Skills

The early childhood years are considered a sensitive period for the development of:

  1. Aerobic endurance training
  2. Early sport specialization
  3. Maximal muscular strength development
  4. Fundamental movement skills Correct answer.

Explanation

Early childhood is a sensitive period for acquiring fundamental movement skills and perceptual-motor competencies that support later activity. Maximal strength, aerobic endurance, and sport specialization are not primary developmental priorities of this period.

Question 26Motor Development and Movement Skills

A child first gains control of the head and neck before the arms and legs. This pattern illustrates which directional principle of motor development?

  1. Cephalocaudal Correct answer.
  2. Proximodistal
  3. Differentiation
  4. Bilateral

Explanation

Cephalocaudal development proceeds from the head downward, so head and neck control typically appear before control of the lower limbs. Proximodistal development proceeds from the center of the body outward, and differentiation refers to movement becoming more specific over time.

Question 27Motor Development and Movement Skills

Which task best assesses dynamic balance?

  1. Sitting upright without support
  2. Standing on one leg with eyes closed
  3. Holding a plank position
  4. Walking heel-to-toe along a straight line Correct answer.

Explanation

Dynamic balance is the ability to maintain equilibrium while the body is moving, as in walking along a line. The other tasks require holding a stationary position and therefore assess static balance.

Question 28Motor Development and Movement Skills

A teacher tells a student, 'You made the basket on that shot.' This feedback is best described as:

  1. Knowledge of results Correct answer.
  2. Concurrent feedback
  3. Knowledge of performance
  4. Intrinsic feedback

Explanation

Knowledge of results provides information about the outcome of a movement, such as whether the shot succeeded. Knowledge of performance describes the movement pattern itself, and intrinsic feedback comes from the learner's own senses.

Question 29Motor Development and Movement Skills

Which of the following is a gross motor skill?

  1. Buttoning a shirt
  2. Writing with a pencil
  3. Threading a needle
  4. Jumping over a puddle Correct answer.

Explanation

Gross motor skills involve the large muscles of the body and whole-body actions such as jumping. Fine motor skills require small, precise movements of the hands and fingers.

Question 30Motor Development and Movement Skills

In the initial stage of fundamental movement skill development, a child's movement is typically:

  1. Automatic under pressure
  2. Smooth and consistent
  3. Crude and inefficient Correct answer.
  4. Highly adaptable

Explanation

The initial stage is characterized by crude, inefficient movement with missing or exaggerated components. Smoothness, consistency, automaticity, and adaptability emerge later as the child progresses toward the mature stage.

Question 31Motor Development and Movement Skills

Body awareness in motor development refers to a child's understanding of:

  1. Body parts and their movement possibilities Correct answer.
  2. Where the body is in relation to objects
  3. The speed at which an object travels
  4. How much force to apply to an object

Explanation

Body awareness involves knowing the names, locations, and movement capabilities of body parts. Spatial awareness concerns the body's position in relation to objects, while force awareness concerns how much effort to apply.

Question 32Motor Development and Movement Skills

Which is an example of an open motor skill?

  1. Shooting a free throw
  2. Bowling in a fixed lane
  3. Catching a pass in a game Correct answer.
  4. Performing a gymnastics routine

Explanation

An open skill is performed in an unpredictable, changing environment, so catching a pass in a game requires adapting to the ball and defenders. Closed skills occur in stable, predictable settings such as a fixed lane or a free-throw line.

Question 33Motor Development and Movement Skills

A toddler learns to control the shoulder and upper arm before gaining precise control of the fingers. This pattern is best described as:

  1. Differentiation
  2. Reciprocal
  3. Cephalocaudal
  4. Proximodistal Correct answer.

Explanation

Proximodistal development proceeds from the center of the body toward the extremities, so proximal shoulder control typically precedes fine finger control. Cephalocaudal development instead describes head-to-toe progression.

Question 34Motor Development and Movement Skills

A student in the associative stage of motor learning is most likely to:

  1. Ask many questions about the basic idea of the skill
  2. Require constant step-by-step instructions
  3. Perform with increasing consistency and refine details Correct answer.
  4. Show no awareness of errors

Explanation

In the associative stage, learners have grasped the general idea of the skill and focus on refining technique, reducing errors, and gaining consistency. Asking basic questions and needing constant instruction are more typical of the cognitive stage.

Question 35Motor Development and Movement Skills

A coach designs practice in which athletes alternate between passing, shooting, and dribbling drills in unpredictable order. This is an example of:

  1. Random practice Correct answer.
  2. Massed practice
  3. Blocked practice
  4. Variable practice

Explanation

Random practice mixes different skills in an unpredictable order, which is what the coach has designed. Blocked practice repeats one skill before moving to the next, and variable practice varies conditions within the same skill.

Question 36Motor Development and Movement Skills

Which practice condition is most likely to improve a learner's ability to adapt a skill to a novel situation?

  1. Practicing only until the first success
  2. Practicing with no feedback
  3. Practicing the skill under varied conditions Correct answer.
  4. Practicing the skill in one predictable setting

Explanation

Variable practice exposes learners to different conditions, which supports transfer and adaptation to new situations. Practicing in a single predictable setting promotes narrow performance that may not transfer well.

Question 37Motor Development and Movement Skills

A tennis player who has practiced badminton finds that the badminton wrist action interferes with tennis strokes. This is an example of:

  1. Bilateral transfer
  2. Negative transfer Correct answer.
  3. Positive transfer
  4. Zero transfer

Explanation

Negative transfer occurs when prior learning interferes with the performance or learning of a new skill. Positive transfer would mean the previous skill helps, while zero transfer means no detectable effect.

Question 38Motor Development and Movement Skills

After practicing a skill with the right hand, a student performs it better with the left hand. This is best explained by:

  1. Retroactive interference
  2. Bilateral transfer Correct answer.
  3. Negative transfer
  4. Specificity of learning

Explanation

Bilateral transfer, also called cross-education, occurs when practice with one limb improves performance with the opposite limb. Negative transfer would involve interference, and specificity of learning emphasizes that practice conditions should match performance conditions.

Question 39Motor Development and Movement Skills

A gymnast mentally rehearses a routine before competition. This technique is most accurately called:

  1. Mental practice Correct answer.
  2. Blocked practice
  3. Massed practice
  4. Knowledge of results

Explanation

Mental practice is the cognitive rehearsal of a skill without physically performing it. Massed and blocked practice are physical practice schedules, and knowledge of results is feedback about an outcome.

Question 40Motor Development and Movement Skills

Which factor is an environmental constraint in Newell's model of motor development?

  1. The size of the ball
  2. A child's motivation
  3. A child's leg length
  4. Playground surface texture Correct answer.

Explanation

In Newell's model, environmental constraints are features of the physical or social setting, such as gravity, light, or surface texture. Motivation and leg length are individual constraints, and ball size is a task constraint.

Question 41Motor Development and Movement Skills

In motor development, a rate limiter is best described as:

  1. A practice schedule that limits rest
  2. A factor that determines the speed of a race
  3. A type of feedback that accelerates learning
  4. A constraint that holds back the emergence of a skill Correct answer.

Explanation

A rate limiter is a constraint, often an individual factor such as strength or balance, that restricts or slows the emergence of a new motor skill. It is not a measure of racing speed, a feedback type, or a practice schedule.

Question 42Motor Development and Movement Skills

Fitts's law predicts that when a movement's accuracy demand increases, a performer will typically:

  1. Decrease movement time
  2. Increase movement speed
  3. Ignore the target
  4. Increase movement time Correct answer.

Explanation

Fitts's law describes a speed-accuracy tradeoff: as a task requires more precise accuracy, performers usually take more time to complete the movement. Trying to move faster under high accuracy demands typically increases errors.

Question 43Motor Development and Movement Skills

A basketball free throw is best classified as which type of motor skill?

  1. Open
  2. Continuous
  3. Discrete Correct answer.
  4. Serial

Explanation

A free throw is a discrete skill because it has a clear beginning and end. Continuous skills have no obvious endpoints, serial skills combine several discrete actions, and open skills occur in unpredictable environments.

Question 44Motor Development and Movement Skills

Which skill is most appropriately practiced using part practice?

  1. A discrete, ballistic skill
  2. A high-organization, simple skill
  3. A skill with interdependent parts
  4. A low-organization, complex skill Correct answer.

Explanation

Part practice is most useful when a skill is high in complexity but low in organization, meaning it has many components that can be separated without destroying the overall action. Highly organized skills are better practiced as a whole because their parts depend closely on one another.

Question 45Motor Development and Movement Skills

In the developmental sequence of overhand throwing, which pattern is most advanced?

  1. Straight arm with no trunk rotation
  2. Stepping with trunk rotation and weight transfer Correct answer.
  3. Underhand motion
  4. Arm-only movement with feet together

Explanation

A mature overhand throw uses a step, trunk rotation, and weight transfer from the rear foot to the front foot. Earlier patterns rely mainly on the arm and lack coordinated trunk and lower-body action.

Question 46Motor Development and Movement Skills

A learner who controls feedback timing by requesting it after specific trials is likely to:

  1. Need more frequent feedback later
  2. Develop better error detection and retention Correct answer.
  3. Show slower learning than a yoked group
  4. Become overly dependent on feedback

Explanation

Self-controlled feedback gives learners an active role in monitoring their performance, which tends to improve error detection and retention compared with feedback imposed by an instructor. It does not typically increase dependence or slow learning.

Question 47Motor Development and Movement Skills

According to an ecological perspective, an affordance is:

  1. An internal memory structure for movement
  2. A type of practice schedule
  3. An action possibility offered by the environment Correct answer.
  4. A reflex present at birth

Explanation

An affordance is a perceived possibility for action that emerges from the relationship between the performer and the environment, such as a low step inviting a child to step up. It is not an internal memory structure, reflex, or practice schedule.

Question 48Motor Development and Movement Skills

A teacher notices that students who practice a skill in a blocked schedule perform better during practice, but students in a random schedule perform better on a later test. This finding best illustrates:

  1. Massed practice effect
  2. Specificity of learning
  3. Contextual interference effect Correct answer.
  4. Positive transfer

Explanation

The contextual interference effect describes how random or interleaved practice can depress performance during acquisition but enhance retention and transfer. Blocked practice often looks better in practice but may produce weaker long-term learning.

Question 49Motor Development and Movement Skills

Which statement best reflects the dynamical systems perspective on motor development?

  1. Motor programs are innate and fixed
  2. Learning is a linear accumulation of stimulus-response bonds
  3. New movement patterns emerge from interactions among multiple constraints Correct answer.
  4. Development is driven solely by maturation of the nervous system

Explanation

Dynamical systems theory views motor development as the emergence of new patterns from interactions among individual, task, and environmental constraints. It rejects the idea that development is driven solely by maturation or by fixed innate motor programs.

Question 50Motor Development and Movement Skills

A kindergarten teacher observes that a student can hop across the floor, skip in time to music, and hold a steady one-foot balance, but consistently fumbles whenever a beanbag is tossed to him. Within the locomotor–stability–manipulative framework for classifying fundamental movement skills, which category is least developed in this student?

  1. Stability skills
  2. Locomotor skills
  3. Perceptual-motor skills
  4. Manipulative skills Correct answer.

Explanation

Fundamental movement skills are commonly grouped into locomotor skills (projecting the body through space), stability skills (maintaining equilibrium), and manipulative skills (controlling objects with the hands, feet, or an implement). This student hops and skips competently and balances on one foot, so locomotor and stability functioning are intact. Catching a tossed beanbag is an object-control task, which places the deficit squarely in the manipulative category.