Score Higher on AP Macroeconomics 2024: MCQ Tips from Students

Multiple Choice Questions

This guide organizes advice from past students who got 4s and 5s on their exams. We hope it gives you some new ideas and tools for your study sessions. But remember, everyone's different—what works for one student might not work for you. If you've got a study method that's doing the trick, stick with it. Think of this as extra help, not a must-do overhaul.

📌 Overview

• Students are to define and identify economic principles and models, analyze graphs and economic equations, predict the effect of variables, and explain economic outcomes
• 66% of Exam Score
• 60 questions
• 70 min, or 1 min & 10 sec per question

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💭 General Advice

Tips on mindset, strategy, structure, time management, and any other high level things to know:

• Try and focus on understanding the intuition of the key economic concepts covered in Macroeconomics (just to name a few: supply and demand, fiscal policy, monetary policy, foreign exchange, inflation, unemployment, and economic growth). A lot of the things feel intuitive with human structure so identify the root reasons behind each concept so it can come easier to you on the exam.
• Adding onto the message above, don’t let numbers overwhelm you. Your first goal should be to understand the underlying concepts behind Macroeconomic situations. Math will be easier if you understand why things are happening the way they are.
• Questions often include graphs and charts. Make sure you understand how to interpret them and use the information provided to answer the questions accurately.
  • Models are a very big part of Macroeconomics, and there are a lot of them. Make sure you understand how each model works and how to draw one.
  • Graphing different economic scenarios can help you understand what a question is asking you; if you have doubts about the question, create a visual for yourself!
• MEMORIZE ALL GRAPHS THROUGH AND THROUGH. This will save you!
• Create mnemonic devices to remember economic principles and using abbreviations for vocabulary can save you time. For example, you can write aggregate demand as “AD.”
• Know the difference between:
  • change in demand with the change in quantity demanded
  • change in supply with change in quantity demanded
  • real and nominal
  • demand-pull inflation and cost-push inflation
• Memorize the effects of Monetary Policy and Fiscal Policy on Interest Rate.

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🤔 Before you Bubble

What should a student do in the first few minutes, before they start answering?

• Be sure to bubble the questions by batches. Answer 5 questions and then bubble them in rather than flipping to the bubbling sheet every question. This saves time and keeps your focus on the concepts.
• Pace yourself during the exam and allocate time for each question. If you're stuck on a question, move on and come back to it later if you have time.
• Try to answer the question before looking at the answer choices, so you’re not distracted by the wrong answers.
• Make sure you understand what the question is asking. For example, nominal and real are not the same thing so don’t confuse them with each other.
• Create a graphical representation for questions pertaining to market shifts or changes. Or when in doubt graph out your answer.
  • For example, if the question asks what will in the long run, graph out the scenario.
• Make sure you understand what the question is asking you for! Some of the questions are designed to trick you by presenting answers of different questions with the same information.
• Read closely, don’t make a mistake due to rushing through and forgetting to answer what the question is actually asking.
• Double check any axis labels or labels in general, sometimes these can influence the answer choice!

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✏️ How to Choose an Answer

• Use the process of elimination to eliminate obviously incorrect answer choices, which can increase your chances of selecting the correct answer.
• Be mindful of tricky wording or distractors in the answer choices. Sometimes, incorrect choices may seem plausible if you don't read carefully.
• Put the questions or points into context if you are really stuck. Macro should be able to make intuitive sense if you break it down deep enough so more often than not, the answer your gut wants to say with how the world works is the correct answer.

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⭐️ Tips on Data/Graphs

• Understand the Axes: Start by identifying the variables represented on each axis. This will help you interpret the relationship between the variables correctly.
• Title and Labels: Pay attention to the title and labels on the graph. They provide important context and information that can guide your answer choice.
• A general tip is that whenever a line of a graph moves to the right, it’s an increase whereas if a line of a graph moves to the left, it’s a decrease.
• Try to understand what the different shifts in the graph means, it’ll make things easier to know what the effects are of the shifts and what changes can be made so equilibrium is met.
• Equilibrium is met when two graphs touch each other in the middle. Be on the lookout for where the graphs touch each! If one graph is lower/higher than the other, equilibrium is not met.
• Know the look of different graphs, or the different labels. If you do this can help you understand what is going on and help eliminate some answer choices.