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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

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%)

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

Exam

Multiple Choice (2/3 of Score)

Free Response (1/3 of Score)

Score distribution

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

Score 2002[1] 2003[2] 2004[3] 2005[4] 2006[5] 2007[6] 2008[7] 2009[8] 2010[9] 2011[10] 2012[11] 2013[12] 2014[13] 2015[14] 2016[15] 2017[16] 2018[17] 2019[18] 2020[19] 2021[20] 2022[21] 2023[22]
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%
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%
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%
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%
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%
% 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%
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
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
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

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."[23] 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 2019.[24]

See also

References

  1. ^ "2002: Grade Distributions". Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  2. ^ "2003: Grade Distributions". Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  3. ^ "2004: Grade Distributions". Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  4. ^ "2005: Grade Distributions". Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  5. ^ "2006: Grade Distributions". Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  6. ^ "Student Grade Distributions" (PDF). Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  7. ^ "Student Score 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. ^ Macroeconomics Score Distributions
  11. ^ Macroeconomics Scoring Distributions
  12. ^ Macroeconomics Scoring Distributions
  13. ^ Macroeconomics Score Distributions
  14. ^ "Student Score Distributions" (PDF). Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  15. ^ "Student Score Distributions" (PDF). Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  16. ^ "Student Score Distributions" (PDF). 2017.
  17. ^ "2018 Student Score Distributions" (PDF).
  18. ^ "Student Score Distributions" (PDF). Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  19. ^ "STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS" (PDF). Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  20. ^ "Student Score Distributions" (PDF). Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  21. ^ "Student Score Distributions" (PDF). Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  22. ^ "Student Score Distributions" (PDF). Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  23. ^ 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]
  24. ^ College Board, AP Economics Course and Exam Description (2019)

Study Resources

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