National economic performance — output, unemployment, inflation, money, and policy.
Study guide last reviewed September 25, 2026 · see what changed
Format reflects the current published structure — always confirm against AP Central before test day, since formats occasionally change.
| Section | Details | Time | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Section I – Multiple Choice | 60 questions | 1 hr 10 min | 66.7% |
| Section II – Free Response | 1 long + 2 short FRQs, often requiring graphs | 1 hr | 33.3% |
Straight answers about the AP Macroeconomics exam — format, credit, dates, and this site.
Section I – Multiple Choice: 60 questions (1 hr 10 min, 66.7% of the total score); Section II – Free Response: 1 long + 2 short FRQs, often requiring graphs (1 hr, 33.3% of the total score). See the Exam Format tab above for the full breakdown, and always double-check the current year's format on AP Central before test day.
It's multiple-choice questions and written free-response or essay questions.
It depends entirely on the college — most award credit for a 3 or higher, but many selective schools require a 4 or a 5, and some don't grant credit at all for certain scores. Always check your target college's own AP credit policy page rather than assuming a 3 will count everywhere.
AP exams are administered during the College Board's annual testing window in the first two full weeks of May, with the exact date and time for each subject set by the College Board and announced the preceding fall. Check AP Central or your school's AP coordinator for this year's exact date.
Yes. The unit-by-unit study guide, worked examples, practice quiz, and full-length timed practice exam on this page are all free, with no login, signup, or paywall.
Unit-by-unit breakdown of what the course actually covers, in teaching order.
Scarcity forcing choice, opportunity cost as the true cost of any decision, comparative advantage explaining the gains from trade (even when one party is better at everything), and the production possibilities curve illustrating tradeoffs and economic growth.
GDP calculated via the expenditure approach (C+I+G+NX), the distinction between nominal and real GDP (adjusting for inflation using a price index/GDP deflator), unemployment types (frictional, structural, cyclical) and how they're measured, and the business cycle's phases (expansion, peak, contraction, trough).
The aggregate demand curve (and its components: C+I+G+NX) and aggregate supply curve (short-run vs. long-run, with the long-run curve vertical at potential GDP), and how shifts in AD or AS explain changes in real GDP and the price level, including recessionary and inflationary gaps.
The money supply (M1, M2) and the functions of money, the money market model (money supply and money demand determining the interest rate), and the loanable funds market showing how savings and investment determine real interest rates.
The Phillips curve's short-run inflation-unemployment tradeoff versus its vertical long-run form at the natural rate, the crowding-out effect from government borrowing, and how fiscal/monetary policy's effects differ between the short run and long run.
Exchange rate determination via currency supply and demand, how monetary/fiscal policy affects exchange rates and net exports, the balance of payments (current account, capital account), and comparative advantage extended to explain international trade patterns.
Concrete, fully worked examples — this is what separates a page reviewers see as genuinely useful from one that just lists topics.
Opportunity cost from a PPC: a country can produce either 100 cars or 400 tons of wheat with all its resources (a linear, constant-opportunity-cost PPC).
Every 1 car forgone frees up resources for 4 tons of wheat, so the opportunity cost of 1 car = 4 tons of wheat (and the opportunity cost of 1 ton of wheat = 0.25 cars). On a bowed-out (realistic) PPC, this opportunity cost would rise as you produce more of one good — a point worth stating explicitly when a graph is bowed rather than straight.
GDP via the expenditure approach: C=$500B, I=$150B, G=$100B, NX=−$20B.
GDP = C + I + G + NX = 500 + 150 + 100 + (−20) = $730B. A negative NX (more imports than exports) still gets added, not subtracted separately — it's already a signed net figure.
AD/AS shift: government spending G increases. Trace the short-run and long-run effects.
Short run: AD shifts right along an upward-sloping SRAS, raising both real GDP and the price level.
Long run: since LRAS is vertical at potential GDP, the economy's output returns to its original level and only the price level ends up permanently higher — distinguishing these two timeframes explicitly is exactly what separates a full-credit FRQ answer from a partial one.
Money market: the Fed increases the money supply. Trace the full chain of effects to real GDP.
MS shifts right → interest rate falls (holding money demand constant) → lower borrowing cost increases investment spending → via the spending multiplier, real GDP rises. Each arrow in that chain is a separate point on most FRQ rubrics — stating only the first and last step loses credit for the mechanism in between.
Phillips curve: can a government keep unemployment permanently below the natural rate by tolerating higher inflation?
In the short run, yes — the short-run Phillips curve shows a real tradeoff (lower unemployment, higher inflation). In the long run, no — the long-run Phillips curve is vertical at the natural rate, so persistent attempts to hold unemployment below it only raise inflation with no permanent unemployment benefit.
Exchange rates: U.S. interest rates rise relative to other countries. What happens to the dollar and to net exports?
Higher relative rates attract foreign capital into U.S. assets, increasing demand for dollars, so the dollar appreciates. A stronger dollar makes U.S. exports pricier abroad and imports cheaper at home, so net exports fall — partially offsetting the investment boost from the same interest rate change.
The errors that cost the most points across the whole exam, not just one unit.
Unofficial practice questions written for this study guide — not official AP content and not from College Board. Use them to self-check, then use the real past free-response questions below for authentic exam practice.
Unofficial practice, timed to feel like the real thing. Section I pulls from this page's full multiple-choice bank; Section II gives you free-response prompts to write out and self-score against a rubric. Bank size is still growing toward full exam length — timing is paced per-question, not pulled from this subject's official duration.