What is the importance of the resultant force in a free-fall question?

The resultant force is firstly a key-word that any examiner will notice and so it will benefit your chance of getting the marks straight away. It helps us describe whether the forces are balanced or whether there is an overall force in a particular direction. For a free fall question the most important points at which to reference resultant force is before the fall, when the person is not moving, and when the person reaches terminal velocity. At both these points the resultant force is 0. Between these two points the resultant force is acting in a downwards direction because of weight due to gravity.