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:

Basic Economic Concepts (5–10%)

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

National Income and Price Determination (17–27%)

Financial Sector (15–20%)

Financial sector:

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

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

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:

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." 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.

Study Resources