We started this work with the goal of detecting misconceptions held by our students about force and
motion. A total of 341 students participated in this study by taking the force concept inventory
(FCI) test both before and after receiving instructions about force or motion. The data from this
study were analysed using different statistical techniques with results from frequencies and the
dominant incorrect answer reported in this paper. All misconceptions reported in the original paper
of the designers of the FCI test (Hestenes et al 1992 Phys. Teach . 30 141–58) were examined and the
results are reported. Only pre test results are reported in this paper leaving post data for future
work. We used the modified version of the FCI containing 30 questions and therefore used the revised
list of misconceptions. Problems with impetus and active force are among the most dominant ones
found with the full list reported in this paper.