AP Microeconomics exam guide 2027
Everything on the AP Microeconomics exam, unit by unit, mapped to the official College Board course framework, with a free lesson for every topic, exactly how the free-response questions are marked and a 10-week revision plan.
The exam at a glance
The May 2027 exam is hybrid digital: you answer the multiple-choice questions in the Bluebook app, read the free-response questions on screen and handwrite your answers in a paper booklet. A four-function calculator is allowed. Scores run from 1 to 5; most universities give credit for a 3, 4 or 5.
| Section | Questions | Time | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Section I: Multiple choice | 60 questions | 1 hour 10 minutes | 66% of your score |
| Section II: Free response | 3 questions: 1 long, 2 short | 1 hour, including a 10-minute reading period | 33% of your score |
The long free-response question is worth half of Section II and usually asks you to draw and label at least one graph, show a change, and explain the result. The two short questions are worth a quarter each and often include a calculation or a single graph.
What is on the exam, unit by unit
Unit 1: Basic Economic Concepts 12–15% of the multiple-choice section
| Topic | What you must know | Learn it here |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | Scarcity, choices and opportunity cost | The Economic Problem |
| 1.2 | Resource allocation and economic systems | Economic Systems |
| 1.3 | The production possibilities curve: shape, shifts, efficiency | The Production Possibility Curve |
| 1.4 | Comparative advantage, terms of trade and gains from trade | Comparative Advantage |
| 1.5 | Cost-benefit analysis: marginal benefit and marginal cost | Marginal Analysis and Consumer Choice |
| 1.6 | Marginal utility and the utility-maximising rule | Marginal Analysis and Consumer Choice |
Unit 2: Supply and Demand 20–25%
| Topic | What you must know | Learn it here |
|---|---|---|
| 2.1 | Demand and its determinants | Demand |
| 2.2 | Supply and its determinants | Supply |
| 2.3 | Price elasticity of demand and the total revenue test | Elasticity |
| 2.4 | Price elasticity of supply | Elasticity |
| 2.5 | Income and cross-price elasticity | Elasticity |
| 2.6 | Market equilibrium, consumer and producer surplus | Market Equilibrium and Price, Consumer and Producer Surplus |
| 2.7 | Disequilibrium and changes in equilibrium (double shifts) | Market Equilibrium and Price |
| 2.8 | Taxes, subsidies, price ceilings and floors, deadweight loss | Government Intervention in Markets |
| 2.9 | World price, tariffs and quotas | International Trade and Public Policy |
Unit 3: Production, Cost and the Perfect Competition Model 22–25%
| Topic | What you must know | Learn it here |
|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | Production function, marginal product, diminishing returns | Production and Costs |
| 3.2 | Short-run costs: TFC, TVC, ATC, AVC, MC | Production and Costs |
| 3.3 | Long-run costs and economies of scale | Production and Costs |
| 3.4 | Accounting, economic and normal profit | Profit Maximisation and Firm Decisions |
| 3.5 | Profit maximisation at MR = MC | Profit Maximisation and Firm Decisions |
| 3.6 | Shutdown rule, entry and exit | Profit Maximisation and Firm Decisions |
| 3.7 | Perfect competition in the short and long run (side-by-side graphs) | Perfect Competition |
Unit 4: Imperfect Competition 15–22%
| Topic | What you must know | Learn it here |
|---|---|---|
| 4.1 | Imperfect competition and the MR curve | Monopoly |
| 4.2 | Monopoly: price, output, profit, deadweight loss | Monopoly |
| 4.3 | Price discrimination | Price Discrimination |
| 4.4 | Monopolistic competition | Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly |
| 4.5 | Oligopoly and game theory: payoff matrices, dominant strategies, Nash equilibrium | Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly, Game Theory |
Unit 5: Factor Markets 10–13%
| Topic | What you must know | Learn it here |
|---|---|---|
| 5.1 | Derived demand, MRP and MRC | Factor Demand and the Least-Cost Rule |
| 5.2 | Shifts in factor demand and supply | Factor Demand and the Least-Cost Rule, Labour Markets |
| 5.3 | Hiring in perfectly competitive labour markets, least-cost rule | Factor Demand and the Least-Cost Rule, Labour Markets |
| 5.4 | Monopsony | Labour Markets, Factor Demand and the Least-Cost Rule |
Unit 6: Market Failure and the Role of Government 8–13%
| Topic | What you must know | Learn it here |
|---|---|---|
| 6.1 | Socially efficient outcomes and deadweight loss | Externalities |
| 6.2 | Positive and negative externalities, Pigouvian taxes and subsidies | Externalities |
| 6.3 | Public goods, free riders and common resources | Public Goods and Common Resources |
| 6.4 | Government intervention in different market structures | Government Policy and Market Structures |
| 6.5 | Inequality: Lorenz curve, Gini coefficient, tax structures | Inequality and Redistribution |
The weightings show how much of the multiple-choice section each unit takes. The free-response questions can come from any unit, and they often combine two.
How the free-response questions are marked
- Each point is for one specific thing. Readers look for the exact item the question asks for: a correctly labelled axis, the right shift, the correct area shaded, a direction (increase, decrease, no change) and, when asked, an explanation.
- Label everything. Axes (Price and Quantity, or the factor market labels), every curve (D, S, MR, MC, ATC, AVC), equilibrium values (P1, Q1) and new values after a change (P2, Q2). An unlabelled graph usually earns nothing.
- “Explain” means give the economic reason, usually in one sentence that links cause and effect, such as “because MR is less than price for a monopolist, it produces where MR = MC at a lower quantity than the allocatively efficient level”.
- Show your working on calculations. Write the formula, the numbers and the answer with units, for example “Profit = (P − ATC) × Q = ($12 − $9) × 40 = $120”.
- Answer every part even if you are unsure of an earlier one. Points are usually given for consistent follow-through, so a wrong answer in part (a) does not automatically lose the later points.
- Use the 10-minute reading period to plan, sketch graphs on scrap paper first, and spend roughly 25 minutes on the long question and 12 to 13 minutes on each short one.
Graphs you must be able to draw from memory
Supply and demandwith shifts, surplus, shortage, CS, PS and DWL
Tax or subsidytax wedge, revenue, incidence and DWL
Price ceiling and floorbinding versus non-binding
Tariff on a world-price graphimports before and after, revenue, DWL
Cost curvesMC through the minimum of AVC and ATC
Perfect competition side by sidemarket and firm, short run and long run
MonopolyD, MR, MC, ATC, profit and DWL, P = MC and P = ATC points
Monopolistic competitionlong-run tangency with excess capacity
Labour market and firmMRP = MRC, wage taker
MonopsonyMRC above supply, wage and quantity
ExternalitiesMSB/MSC versus MPB/MPC and the DWL triangle
Lorenz curveline of equality and the Gini area
10-week revision plan
| Week | Focus | Do this |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Unit 1 | Steps 1–5. Practise PPC opportunity-cost and comparative-advantage questions until they are automatic. |
| 2 | Unit 2, part 1 | Demand, supply, equilibrium and double shifts. Draw ten shift scenarios. |
| 3 | Unit 2, part 2 | Elasticities, surplus, government intervention, tariffs. Calculate DWL areas. |
| 4 | Unit 3 | Cost curves and profit maximisation. Fill in cost tables by hand. |
| 5 | Unit 3 and 4 | Perfect competition side-by-side graphs, then monopoly. |
| 6 | Unit 4 | Price discrimination, monopolistic competition, game theory matrices. |
| 7 | Unit 5 | MRP tables, least-cost rule and monopsony. |
| 8 | Unit 6 | Externalities, public goods, regulation, inequality. |
| 9 | Mixed practice | Two timed multiple-choice sets of 60 questions in 70 minutes. Review every miss. |
| 10 | Free response | Three past free-response sets under timed conditions, marked against the scoring guidelines. |
Common mistakes that cost points
Common mistakeConfusing a change in quantity demanded (movement along the curve) with a change in demand (a shift).
Common mistakeSetting price at MR = MC for a monopoly. The quantity is found where MR = MC, but the price comes from the demand curve above that quantity.
Common mistakeSaying a firm should shut down whenever it makes a loss. It shuts down in the short run only if price is below minimum AVC.
Common mistakeForgetting that in long-run perfect competition, economic profit is zero and P = minimum ATC.
Common mistakeDrawing MC so it does not cross AVC and ATC at their minimum points.
Common mistakeIn game theory, choosing the outcome with the highest combined payoff instead of checking each player’s best response.
Ready to practise at exam level?
Economics Made Simple covers every unit with diagrams and full answer keys. The bundle adds 450 practice questions, flashcards and 100 case studies.
Further reading
Our earlier article on this exam, with more background: