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AP Macroeconomics

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Advanced Placement Macroeconomics (also known as AP Macroeconomics, AP Macro, or simply Macro) is a course offered by the College Board as part of the Advanced Placement Program for high school students interested in college-level coursework in macroeconomics. 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, although more students take the former.

Topic outline

Basic Economic Concepts (8–12%)

Measurement of Economic Performance (12–16%)

National Income and Price Determination (10–15%)

Financial Sector (15–20%)

Financial sector:

Inflation, Unemployment, and Stabilization Policies (20–30%)

Economic Growth and Productivity (5–10%)

Economic Growth and Productivity:

Open Economy: International Trade and Finance (10–15%)

The exam

  • Section I: Multiple Choice (70 minutes – worth 2/3 of the exam grade)
  • Section II: Free-Response (60 minutes – worth 1/3 of the exam grade)

Section I consists of 60 questions. The multiple-choice portion of the exam is constructed to reflect the weighting of topics on the AP Macroeconomics Topic Outline (above). For example, test-takers should expect to find between 3 and 6 questions of the 60 total questions on the multiple choice section pertaining to "economic growth" because Unit VI. Economic Growth and Productivity should comprise 5%-10% of the course material studied.

Grade distribution

The grade distributions since 2008 are as follows:

Score 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015[1] 2016[2] 2017[3]
5 14.9% 15.7% 14.4% 13.1% 13.9% 14.6% 16.1% 13.8% 16.1% 16.4%
4 22.7% 25.2% 25.6% 24.0% 23.9% 23.2% 23.2% 22.0% 23.4% 23.1%
3 15.2% 15.8% 15.2% 16.7% 18.0% 16.6% 18.5% 17.3% 16.2% 17.2%
2 19.8% 16.2% 16.6% 18.2% 17.8% 19.1% 17.5% 17.5% 17.5% 16.2%
1 27.5% 27.1% 28.1% 28.0% 26.3% 26.6% 24.7% 29.4% 26.8% 27.1%
Mean 2.78 2.86 2.82 2.76 2.81 2.80 2.89 2.73 2.85 2.86
Number of Students 68,009[4] 73,817[5] 83,146[6] 90,134[7] 99,903[8] 108,219[9] 117,209[10] 126,267 138,638

Criticism

Tawni Ferrarini, James Gwartney, and John Morton have argued that the examination does not adequately cover recent advances in the field, writing that "[t]he AP macroeconomics exam and resources largely reflect the simplistic Keynesian view from the 1960s and 1970s."[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ Registration, Total. "2015 AP Exam Score Distributions".
  2. ^ Total Registration. "2016 AP Exam Score Distributions". www.totalregistration.net. Retrieved 2016-07-01.
  3. ^ Registration, Total. "2017 AP Exam Score Distributions". www.totalregistration.net. Retrieved 2017-06-11.
  4. ^ http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap08_MacroEconomics_GradeDistributions.pdf
  5. ^ http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap09_Macroeconomics_GradeDistributions.pdf
  6. ^ http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/2010_Macroeconomics_Score_Dist.pdf
  7. ^ http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/2011_MacroEconomics_Score_Dist.pdf
  8. ^ http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap12_econ_macro_ScoringDist.pdf
  9. ^ http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/apcentral/ap13_econ_macro_ScoringDist.pdf
  10. ^ http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/apcentral/ap14-macroeconomics-score-dist.pdf
  11. ^ Tawni H. Ferrarini, James D. Gwartney, and John S. Morton, "Advanced Placement Economics: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," Econ Journal Watch 8(1) (January 2011), 67. [1]