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Micro

AP Microeconomics

Think at the margin: draw the graph, find where MR meets MC, and explain who wins, who loses, and why.

Category
History and social sciences
Units
6 units
Exam
Exam May 4, 2027 (in 219 days)
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Unit 1 is free with an account. No card, no trial clock.

What the course covers

A college-level introduction to how individuals, firms, and markets decide. You start with scarcity, opportunity cost, and marginal analysis, then build the supply and demand model, the cost curves behind every firm, and the four market structures (perfect competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition, and oligopoly), before turning to labor markets, externalities, public goods, and what government policy can and cannot fix. Every unit trains the three things the exam actually scores: correctly labeled graphs, clean calculations (elasticity, surplus, profit, deadweight loss, MRP), and explanations that name the mechanism, not just the result.

6 units, with exam weights

  1. Unit 1

    Basic Economic Concepts

    12-15% of examFree
    The economist's toolkit: scarcity and the three allocation questions, economic systems, the production possibilities curve, comparative advantage and terms of trade, opportunity cost, and the marginal decision rule (including utility maximization with MU/P). Heavy on calculation from tables and PPCs.
    6 topics
    1. 1.1Scarcity
    2. 1.2Resource Allocation and Economic Systems
    3. 1.3Production Possibilities Curve
    4. 1.4Comparative Advantage and Trade
    5. 1.5Cost-Benefit Analysis
    6. 1.6Marginal Analysis and Consumer Choice

  2. Unit 2

    Supply and Demand

    20-25% of exam
    The core model of the course: demand and supply and their determinants, all three elasticities and the total revenue test, equilibrium and consumer and producer surplus, disequilibrium and double shifts, then price controls, quantity controls, taxes, subsidies, deadweight loss, tax incidence, and international trade with tariffs and quotas.
    9 topics
    1. 2.1Demand
    2. 2.2Supply
    3. 2.3Price Elasticity of Demand
    4. 2.4Price Elasticity of Supply
    5. 2.5Other Elasticities
    6. 2.6Market Equilibrium and Consumer and Producer Surplus
    7. 2.7Market Disequilibrium and Changes in Equilibrium
    8. 2.8The Effects of Government Intervention in Markets
    9. 2.9International Trade and Public Policy

  3. Unit 3

    Production, Cost, and the Perfect Competition Model

    22-25% of exam
    The heaviest unit. Production functions and diminishing marginal returns, every short-run cost curve and how they relate, long-run costs and economies of scale, accounting versus economic profit, the MR = MC rule, the shutdown and entry-exit decisions, and the perfectly competitive firm and industry in short- and long-run equilibrium.
    7 topics
    1. 3.1The Production Function
    2. 3.2Short-Run Production Costs
    3. 3.3Long-Run Production Costs
    4. 3.4Types of Profit
    5. 3.5Profit Maximization
    6. 3.6Firms' Short-Run Decisions to Produce and Long-Run Decisions to Enter or Exit a Market
    7. 3.7Perfect Competition

  4. Unit 4

    Imperfect Competition

    15-22% of exam
    Market power. Barriers to entry, why marginal revenue lies below demand, the monopoly graph with profit, surplus, and deadweight loss, natural monopoly, price discrimination, monopolistic competition in the short and long run, and oligopoly with two-player, two-strategy payoff matrices, dominant strategies, and Nash equilibrium.
    5 topics
    1. 4.1Introduction to Imperfectly Competitive Markets
    2. 4.2Monopoly
    3. 4.3Price Discrimination
    4. 4.4Monopolistic Competition
    5. 4.5Oligopoly and Game Theory

  5. Unit 5

    Factor Markets

    10-13% of exam
    Markets for labor, land, and capital. Derived demand, marginal revenue product and marginal factor cost, what shifts labor demand and labor supply, the hiring rule MRP = MFC for a firm in a competitive labor market, the least-cost input rule, and monopsony with MFC above the supply curve.
    4 topics
    1. 5.1Introduction to Factor Markets
    2. 5.2Changes in Factor Demand and Factor Supply
    3. 5.3Profit-Maximizing Behavior in Perfectly Competitive Factor Markets
    4. 5.4Monopsonistic Markets

  6. Unit 6

    Market Failure and the Role of Government

    8-13% of exam
    When markets get it wrong. Social efficiency (MSB = MSC) and deadweight loss, negative and positive externalities in production and consumption with corrective taxes, subsidies, regulation, and property rights, public goods and the free-rider problem, common resources, government policy in each market structure (lump-sum versus per-unit, regulating monopoly, antitrust), and income inequality.
    5 topics
    1. 6.1Socially Efficient and Inefficient Market Outcomes
    2. 6.2Externalities
    3. 6.3Public and Private Goods
    4. 6.4The Effects of Government Intervention in Different Market Structures
    5. 6.5Inequality

The exam, part by part

4 parts, 2 h 10 min in all.

  • Section I: Multiple Choice

    Questions
    60
    Time
    1 h 10 min
    Weight
    66.7%

    Calculator allowed

    Format details

    Answered in the Bluebook app. Mostly stand-alone items, many built on a provided graph, schedule table, or payoff matrix; about 20-30% require reading numbers or calculating. Tests skill categories 1-3 only (graphs are read, never drawn). One point each, no guessing penalty. Four-function calculator allowed (Bluebook built-in or an approved handheld).

  • Section II, Question 1: Long Free Response

    Questions
    1
    Time
    25 min
    Weight
    16.7%

    Calculator allowed

    Format details

    Task types: Long FRQ

    Section II is 60 minutes for all three questions, starting with a suggested 10-minute reading and planning period; about 25 minutes is the suggested pace for this question. Prompts are read in Bluebook; answers and graphs are handwritten in a paper booklet.

  • Section II, Question 2: Short Free Response

    Questions
    1
    Time
    12 min
    Weight
    8.3%

    Calculator allowed

    Format details

    Task types: Short FRQ

    Suggested pace about 12 minutes within the 60-minute Section II.

  • Section II, Question 3: Short Free Response

    Questions
    1
    Time
    12 min
    Weight
    8.3%

    Calculator allowed

    Format details

    Task types: Short FRQ

    Suggested pace about 12 minutes within the 60-minute Section II.

How the 1 to 5 score is set

Section I (60 multiple-choice questions, one point each, no guessing penalty) is two thirds of the composite (66.65% in the CED) and Section II is one third (33.35%): the 10-point long question is half of the section score and each 5-point short question is a quarter, so every free-response point is worth roughly 2.5 times a multiple-choice point. The weighted composite is converted to the 1-5 AP scale using cut points College Board sets each year and does not publish in advance. In May 2025, 21.5% of students earned a 5 and 68.1% earned a 3 or higher (mean 3.24, 2025 Chief Reader Report).

What you bring and get

Hybrid digital exam: multiple choice and the free-response prompts are delivered in the Bluebook app, and free-response answers (including every graph) are handwritten in a paper booklet; only booklet work is scored. A four-function calculator is allowed on both sections (the one built into Bluebook or an approved handheld). No formula sheet, reference sheet, or graph template is provided, so every formula (elasticity, surplus areas, profit, MRP) and every graph must be known from memory. Pencil or dark blue or black ink for the booklet.

Skills the exam scores

  • 1.APrinciples and Models: describe

    Describe economic concepts, principles, or models accurately.

  • 1.BPrinciples and Models: identify from an example

    Recognize which economic concept, principle, or model a scenario illustrates.

  • 1.CPrinciples and Models: identify from data

    Identify an economic concept, principle, or model using numbers, schedules, or calculations.

  • 1.DPrinciples and Models: compare and limit

    Describe how economic concepts, principles, or models are alike, how they differ, and where they stop applying.

  • 2.AInterpretation: explain an outcome

    Use a concept, principle, or model to explain how an economic outcome happens, or what action would produce a given outcome.

  • 2.BInterpretation: multiple variables

    Explain an outcome driven by several contributing variables at once, or the combination of actions needed to reach a given outcome.

  • 2.CInterpretation: explain with data

    Interpret a specific economic outcome using quantitative data or calculations.

  • 3.AManipulation: determine an outcome

    Determine the outcome of a specific economic situation using concepts, principles, or models.

  • 3.BManipulation: effects on other markets

    Determine how one or more changes ripple into other, related markets (complements, substitutes, input and labor markets).

  • 3.CManipulation: effects with data

    Determine the effect of a change in an economic situation using quantitative data or calculations.

  • 4.AGraphing: draw the model

    Draw an accurately labeled graph or visual that represents an economic model or market.

  • 4.BGraphing: show a specific situation

    Show a specific economic situation (a price, quantity, profit area, or surplus) on an accurately labeled graph or visual.

  • 4.CGraphing: show a change

    Show the effect of a change in an economic situation on an accurately labeled graph or visual, including the direction of every shift.