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:
| # | 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.
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 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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." 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
- Anderson, David; Ray, Margaret (2019). Krugman's Economics for the AP Course (3rd ed.). New York: BFW. ISBN 978-1-319-11327-8.