Earn Perfect AP Micro Grades and AP Score
The following Advanced Placement (AP) Microeconomics article was written by Lawrence Kan, high school class of 2022. Lawrence was trained by the economics faculty at Presidio Education®. With training from Wayne Man, Math & Social Science Teacher, Lawrence earned perfect A grades for both high school AP Microeconomics and AP Macroeconomics classes, as well as perfect AP 5 scores on both May 2021 College Board AP exams.
Source: College Board AP Microeconomics Course and Exam Description, Effective Fall 2020.
How Does Presidio Education® Train for AP Microeconomics?
Presidio Education® trains high school students for Advanced Placement (AP) Microeconomics school assessments by offering many types of resources so that students can perfect grades and skills. For example, Presidio Education® provides a lot of diagnostic tests (DTs) to test exam skills, hundreds of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) to test selection skills, and supplemental reading for each unit. Presidio Education® also provides many free-response questions (FRQs) to practice writing out answers. With the resources and strategies from Presidio Education®, I earned a perfect A grade for my high school AP Microeconomics class.
What is Most Enjoyable About AP Microeconomics?
What I enjoyed the most about AP Microeconomics is learning about the different market structures in our economy. The most interesting aspect of learning about market structure is understanding the factors that make each market the way it is and applying them to the large companies and firms we see in our day-to-day lives. For example, after understanding the concept of market share and how the firm with the greatest market power could set a leading price, I applied these concepts to cell phone companies such as Apple and Samsung. Moreover, I loved learning about how the average total cost, marginal cost and marginal revenue look like in each firm and why it is shaped the way it is. These concepts have strengthened my understanding of the economic world around me.
What is Most Challenging About AP Microeconomics?
The most challenging aspect of AP Microeconomics is definitely the final unit. When talking about concepts, such as positive and negative externalities, I was often confused because I did not understand the concepts behind them and the importance of these externalities. The graphs for externalities were also quite difficult to grasp. Identifying the optimal market quantity in an externalities graph was very challenging. Furthermore, understanding how governments could fix such externalities required extra concentration.
AP Microeconomics unit breakdown with the Section 1 multiple-choice question (MCQ) weighting. Source: College Board AP Microeconomics Course and Exam Description, 2020.
What Are Some Presidio Education® AP Microeconomics Strategies?
For the multiple-choice questions (MCQs), the strategy I learned is to use the process of elimination. Through this process, students can find the most definite answer out of the five (5) choices given. This requires carefully reading the questions and each answer choice to stay on-topic. Rushing or making assumptions is ineffective as not all MCQ answer choices will be worded the same. Managing time is also crucial so that all MCQs can be answered and later double-checked. In terms of free-response questions (FRQs), the strategy consists of carefully reading questions and precisely planning out answers. My recommendation is never to spend time writing a lot for the FRQs. AP Microeconomics FRQs do not require students to write a lot. Rather, AP Microeconomics FRQs should be complete, yet concise, answers. Handwriting must also be very clear and must not be taken for granted. All graphs must be drawn neatly to avoid any misinterpretation with lines, points, or numbers. Crooked graph lines can cost much-needed points. This is why attention to detail matters a lot.
What Advice Do You Recommend for AP Microeconomics Students?
My advice for students is to always start early by reading the textbook so they can master the concepts. Students must take as many diagnostic tests (DTs) as soon as possible after reviewing the entire subject material. With more practice, students will have the ability to master all the skills they can and fix their errors before entering the AP Microeconomics exam. However, this requires that students train outside of school in order to receive productive feedback on all practice questions. For example, even though I had a strong foundation with the subject material, Presidio Education® gave me critical feedback on how to improve the quality of my written responses. I was able to learn how to improve the depth of my written responses, how to improve my legibility, and how to draw and label graphs as required by College Board. Another piece of advice is for students to test their knowledge after each unit. This really helped me to understand whether I knew the concepts.
Lawrence, high school class of 2022, enjoyed studying AP Microeconomics and AP Macroeconomics the most of all school subjects. Economics really allowed him to understand why the economy is so important on a fundamental level. His favorite extracurricular activity is being the Senator of Discipline at school. In his free time he likes writing screenplays, making films and volunteering, especially with feeding the elderly and teaching migrant workers how to swim. While Lawrence plans to study business and film in undergraduate school, he plans to pursue a master’s degree in business. His career goal is to work in the film industry.