AP Macroeconomics

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

Source:[1]

# Topic Exam Weighting
Unit 1 Basic Economic Concepts 5-10%
Unit 2 Economic Indicators and the Business Cycle 12-17%
Unit 3 National Income and Price Determination 17-27%
Unit 4 Financial Sector 18-23%
Unit 5 Long-Run Consequences of Stabilization Policies 20-30%
Unit 6 Open Economy - International Trade and Finance 10-13%

Examination

Started in 2025, the AP Macroeconomics exam includes two sections: Multiple-Choice and Free-Response. The exam is a hybrid digital exam, which means that the contestants have to complete the Multiple-Choice section and view the Free-Response questions on the Bluebook testing application, and handwrite the Free-Response answers in paper exam booklets.[2]

Multiple-Choice Section (66% of Score): 1 hour and 10 minutes

  • 60 questions.
    • Each question has 5 answer choices.

Free-Response Section (33% of Score): 1 hour (with a 10-minute reading period)

  • 3 questions.
    • 1 long-answer question (50% of the section score).
    • 2 short-answer questions (each worth 25% of the section score).
  • Students will be asked to:
    • Make assertions about/Explain economic concepts, principles, models, outcomes and/or effect.
    • Draw graphs.
    • Perform numerical analysis.

Score distribution

The exam was first held in 1989, along with Microeconomics. Grade distributions since 2015 are as follows:

Score 2015[3] 2016[4] 2017[5] 2018[6] 2019[7] 2020[8] 2021[9] 2022[10] 2023[11] 2024[12] 2025[13] 2026[14]
5 15.2% 17.4% 17.4% 19.7% 19.1% 19.7% 18.0% 16.4% 17.1% 16% 18% 19%
4 22.2% 23.4% 23.3% 22.6% 23.0% 25.0% 19.6% 20.0% 22.9% 21% 23% 22%
3 17.1% 16.1% 16.9% 16.2% 16.9% 18.5% 13.7% 15.4% 24.7% 25% 25% 25%
2 17.0% 17.0% 15.8% 16.8% 14.9% 16.2% 15.7% 15.1% 21.6% 23% 22% 20%
1 28.4% 26.0% 26.6% 24.7% 26.2% 20.5% 32.9% 33.1% 13.7% 15% 12% 14%
% of scores 3 or higher 54.6% 57.0% 57.6% 58.5% 58.9% 63.2% 51.3% 51.8% 64.7% 62% 66% 66%
Mean 2.79 2.89 2.89 2.96 2.94 3.07 2.74 2.71 3.08 3.00
Standard deviation 1.45 1.46 1.46 1.47 1.48 1.42 1.52 1.50 1.29 1.30
Number of Students 126,267 134,638 141,649 146,673 146,091 122,639 124,436 134,413 164,505 160,741 176,356 189,000

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."[15] 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

References

  1. 1 2 "AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description Effective Fall 2026" (PDF). College Board. 2026. Retrieved July 20, 2026.
  2. ↑ "AP Macroeconomics Exam – AP Central | College Board". apcentral.collegeboard.org. Retrieved 2026-07-20.
  3. ↑ "Student Score Distributions" (PDF). Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  4. ↑ "Student Score Distributions" (PDF). Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  5. ↑ "Student Score Distributions" (PDF). 2017.
  6. ↑ "2018 Student Score Distributions" (PDF).
  7. ↑ "Student Score Distributions" (PDF). Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  8. ↑ "STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS" (PDF). Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Student Score Distributions" (PDF). Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  10. ↑ "Student Score Distributions" (PDF). Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  11. ↑ "Student Score Distributions" (PDF). Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  12. ↑ "2024 AP Score Distributions". Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  13. ↑ "2025 AP Exam Score Distributions". www.totalregistration.net. Retrieved 2026-07-05.
  14. ↑ Total Registration (2026-06-22). "2026 AP Exam Score Distributions". www.totalregistration.net. Retrieved 2026-07-05.
  15. ↑ 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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