Question 1
Any firm that wants to maximize its profit should produce the quantity at which
AP Microeconomics free-response questions: how they are scored
Section II has three questions: one long question worth 10 points and two short ones worth 5 points each, in 60 minutes including a 10-minute reading period. Each question has several parts and every point is earned on its own, so a correctly labeled graph and one clear sentence of reasoning for each part beat a long essay.
| Long question | 1, worth 10 points |
|---|---|
| Short questions | 2, worth 5 points each |
| Time | 60 minutes, including a 10-minute reading period |
| Weight | A third of the exam score |
What the questions ask
- Make a claim: will the firm's output rise, fall or stay the same?
- Explain it: give the economic reason, such as price falling below minimum average variable cost.
- Calculate: profit, marginal values from a table, elasticity, the area of consumer surplus or deadweight loss.
- Draw a correctly labeled graph or visual representation, and show a change on it.
Earning the graph points
- Label both axes with what they measure, such as price and quantity, or wage and quantity of labor.
- Label every curve (D, S, MR, MC, ATC, AVC, MRP, MSB, MSC and so on) and draw it with the right shape.
- For a perfectly competitive firm, draw it beside its market, with the price set in the market carried across as the firm's horizontal demand and marginal revenue curve.
- Shade areas completely and only to the right corners: profit, loss, consumer surplus, deadweight loss.
- Keep the graph and your written answer consistent: a graph that contradicts the sentence loses the point.
Try 2 questions
Question 2
The government places a per-unit tax on insulin sellers. Demand for insulin is very inelastic and supply is relatively elastic. Who bears most of the tax?
Next step
Questions people ask
How many FRQs are on the AP Microeconomics exam?
Three: one long question worth 10 points and two short questions worth 5 points each, in 60 minutes including a 10-minute reading period.
How much is the free-response section worth?
A third of the exam score; the 60 multiple-choice questions are the other two thirds.
Do you draw graphs on the AP Microeconomics free response?
Yes. Questions ask for correctly labeled graphs, drawn by hand in the paper booklet. Our practice desk has a graph builder that describes your graph in words, so each point can be marked.