Full course description
Course Description
Advanced Placement® (AP) Macroeconomics is a single semester course that explores the concepts and theories to help student think like economists by using principles and models to illustrate economic scenarios while predicting and explaining outcomes. This college-level course is designed to introduce students to the principles that apply to the entire economic system. This includes an emphasis on the study of price-level determination and national income. Students will explore economic performance measures, the financial sector, stabilization policies, economic growth, and international economics. A variety of graphs, charts, and data will be used to help students learn how to analyze, describe, and explain economic concepts.
About AP® Courses
Advanced Placement® (AP) courses are equivalent to college-level courses. We highly recommend that you review the College Board’s AP Calculus AB Course Information page before beginning this course. Students are required to take the UTHS final exam for each semester course to earn high school credit. Students wanting to earn college credit may take the AP® exam offered by the College Board after completing the semester B course; however, it is not required to receive credit for the course from UT High School.
Semester Topics
- Unit 1: Basic Economic Concepts
- Unit 2: Economic Indicators and the Business Cycle
- Unit 3: National Income and Price Determination
- Unit 4: Financial Sector
- Unit 5: Long-Run Consequences of Stabilization Policies
- Unit 6: Open Economy—International Trade and Finance
Course Objectives
Upon completing this course, you will be able to—
- describe economic concepts, principles, or models;
- identify an economic concept, principle, or model illustrated by an example, using quantitative data, or calculations;
- describe the similarities, differences, and limitations of economic concepts, principles, or models;
- using economic concepts, principles, or models, explain how a specific economic outcome occurs, including when there are multiple contributing variables and interpret the specific economic outcome using quantitative data or calculations;
- determine the outcome of an economic situation using economic concepts, principles, or models;
- determine the effect(s) of one or more changes on other economic markets including using quantitative data or calculations;
- draw an accurately labeled graph or visual to represent an economic model or market;
- demonstrate your understanding of a specific economic situation on an accurately labeled graph or visual;
- demonstrate the effect of a change in an economic situation on an accurately labeled graph or visual.
Required Course Materials
Please visit the Computer Requirements page to view minimum device, internet, and application requirements for all UT High School courses. Generally, a desktop or laptop device five (5) years or newer with access to an office suite, such as Microsoft Office or Google Workspace, will be adequate to participate in most UTHS courses.
Unless otherwise noted, students are responsible for purchasing or securing all the following course materials:
- Textbook: Krugman's Macroeconomics for the AP Course (4th ed.) by Margaret Ray and David Anderson
- Publisher: Bedford, Freeman, & Worth
- ISBN#: 9781319409333
- Interactive Notebook: A paper or digital composition book is acceptable. For paper composition books, please also have the following items on hand:
- Pens or Pencils
- Tape or Glue
Course Organization
Students must complete the course in sequence: You will not be able to access the next unit until all work in the preceding unit is completed. You may take your final exam only after completing all units and submitting all graded assignments.
- Units: Each unit includes multiple lessons and graded assignments as well as ungraded practice quizzes to help you check your understanding of the material.
- Summative Assessments: Each course includes two online, virtually proctored summative assessments testing your understanding of the material presented in the preceding 2-3 Units.
- Format: Online, Multiple-choice
- Time Allowed: 1 hr 30 min
- Final Exam: Each course includes an online, virtually proctored final exam testing your knowledge of all material presented in the course.
- Format: Online, Multiple-choice //or Online, Multiple-choice and free response//
- Time Allowed: 3 hrs 20 min
Course Grade Weighting
Your final course grade is calculated by weighting the three assignment groups displayed in the table below:
| Assignment Group | Total Assignments | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Graded Assignments | 12-18 | 50% |
| Summative Assessments | 2 | 25% |
| Final Exam | 1 | 25% |
Online Proctored Exams
All course exams, including both summative assessments and the final exam, must be completed online. Students must test online with Proctorio and are required to add the Proctorio extension to either their Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome browser—installation instructions are provided in the student's course. Proctorio uses a student's computer, web camera, and microphone to record video of both the student and their desktop during the exam. Then, UTHS instructors review the student's exam video data collected by Proctorio. Only authorized UTHS staff and instructors can view the exam recordings. Student data is not shared with any persons or organizations outside of UTHS and are deleted after one year. We encourage you to visit Proctorio's Data Security and Privacy site pages to learn more about how we protect student date.