Advanced Placement (AP) Macroeconomics (also known as AP Macro and AP Macroecon) is an Advanced Placement macroeconomics course for high school students that culminates in an exam offered by the College Board.

Study begins with fundamental economic concepts such as scarcity, opportunity costs, production possibilities, specialization, comparative advantage, demand, supply, and price determination.

Major topics include measurement of economic performance, national income and price determination, fiscal and monetary policy, and international economics and growth. AP Macroeconomics is frequently taught in conjunction with (and, in some cases, in the same year as) AP Microeconomics as part of a comprehensive AP Economics curriculum, although more students take the former.

Topic outline

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Source:[1]

Basic Economic Concepts (5–10%)

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Economic Indicators and the Business Cycle (12–17%)

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National Income and Price Determination (17–27%)

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Financial Sector (15–20%)

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Financial sector:

Long-Run Consequences of Stabilization Policies (20–30%)

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Open Economy: International Trade and Finance (10–13%)

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Exam

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Multiple Choice (2/3 of Score)

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  • 60 questions in 70 minutes
  • Reflects topic outline above
  • Example: 3-6 questions on economic growth

Free Response (1/3 of Score)

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  • 3 questions in 60 minutes (with 10 minutes of recommended reading and planning time)

Score distribution

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The exam was first held in 1989, along with Microeconomics. Grade distributions since 2002 are as follows:

Score 2002[2] 2003[3] 2004[4] 2005[5] 2006[6] 2007[7] 2008[8] 2009[9] 2010[10] 2011[11] 2012[12] 2013[13] 2014[14] 2015[15] 2016[16] 2017[17] 2018[18] 2019[19] 2020[20] 2021[21] 2022[22] 2023[23] 2024[24]
5 14.4% 13.5% 13.0% 14.3% 12.7% 14.1% 14.9% 15.7% 14.4% 13.1% 13.9% 14.6% 16.1% 15.2% 17.4% 17.4% 19.7% 19.1% 19.7% 18.0% 16.4% 17.1% 16%
4 27.7% 23.8% 25.0% 28.9% 23.4% 24.4% 22.7% 25.2% 25.6% 24.0% 23.9% 23.2% 23.2% 22.2% 23.4% 23.3% 22.6% 23.0% 25.0% 19.6% 20.0% 22.9% 21%
3 18.4% 19.2% 17.6% 15.9% 17.4% 16.4% 15.2% 15.8% 15.2% 16.7% 18.0% 16.6% 18.5% 17.1% 16.1% 16.9% 16.2% 16.9% 18.5% 13.7% 15.4% 24.7% 25%
2 22.7% 25.8% 26.0% 16.9% 21.0% 17.2% 19.8% 16.2% 16.6% 18.2% 17.8% 19.1% 17.5% 17.0% 17.0% 15.8% 16.8% 14.9% 16.2% 15.7% 15.1% 21.6% 23%
1 16.8% 17.8% 18.4% 24.0% 25.4% 27.9% 27.5% 27.1% 28.1% 28.0% 26.3% 26.6% 24.7% 28.4% 26.0% 26.6% 24.7% 26.2% 20.5% 32.9% 33.1% 13.7% 15%
% of scores 3 or higher 60.5% 56.5% 55.6% 59.1% 53.6% 55.0% 52.7% 56.7% 55.3% 53.8% 55.8% 54.3% 57.8% 54.6% 57.0% 57.6% 58.5% 58.9% 63.2% 51.3% 51.8% 64.7% 62%
Mean 3.00 2.89 2.88 2.93 2.77 2.80 2.78 2.86 2.82 2.76 2.81 2.80 2.89 2.79 2.89 2.89 2.96 2.94 3.07 2.74 2.71 3.08 3.00
Standard deviation 1.32 1.32 1.32 1.41 1.38 1.43 1.44 1.45 1.45 1.42 1.41 1.42 1.42 1.45 1.46 1.46 1.47 1.48 1.42 1.52 1.50 1.29 1.30
Number of Students 32,184 38,177 41,265 41,265 52,599 60,116 68,009 73,817 83,146 90,134 99,903 108,219 117,209 126,267 134,638 141,649 146,673 146,091 122,639 124,436 134,413 164,505

Criticism

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Tawni Ferrarini, James Gwartney, and John Morton have written that the examination does not adequately cover recent advances in the field: "The AP macroeconomics exam and resources largely reflect the simplistic Keynesian view from the 1960s and 1970s."[25] The College Board updates the AP Macroeconomics curriculum with the guidance of college and high school economics instructors. The most recent update was published in 2022.[1]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description Effective Fall 2022" (PDF). College Board. 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2024.
  2. ^ "2002: Grade Distributions". Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  3. ^ "2003: Grade Distributions". Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  4. ^ "2004: Grade Distributions". Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  5. ^ "2005: Grade Distributions". Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  6. ^ "2006: Grade Distributions". Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  7. ^ "Student Grade Distributions" (PDF). Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  8. ^ "Student Score Distributions" (PDF). Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  9. ^ "Student Score Distributions" (PDF). Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  10. ^ "Student Score Distributions" (PDF). Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  11. ^ Macroeconomics Score Distributions
  12. ^ Macroeconomics Scoring Distributions
  13. ^ Macroeconomics Scoring Distributions
  14. ^ Macroeconomics Score Distributions
  15. ^ "Student Score Distributions" (PDF). Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  16. ^ "Student Score Distributions" (PDF). Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  17. ^ "Student Score Distributions" (PDF). 2017.
  18. ^ "2018 Student Score Distributions" (PDF).
  19. ^ "Student Score Distributions" (PDF). Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  20. ^ "STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS" (PDF). Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  21. ^ "Student Score Distributions" (PDF). Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  22. ^ "Student Score Distributions" (PDF). Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  23. ^ "Student Score Distributions" (PDF). Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  24. ^ "2024 AP Score Distributions". Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  25. ^ Ferrarini, Tawni H.; Gwartney, James D.; Morton, John S. (January 2011). "Advanced Placement Economics: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly". Econ Journal Watch. Retrieved January 11, 2011.

Study Resources

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