Cumulative Micro Test Study Guidelines

Cumulative Micro Test Study Guidelines

AP MICROECONOMICS

CUMULATIVE MICRO TEST STUDY GUIDELINES

*Everything we’ve done this year (with the exception of things learned exclusively for the EOCT such as macroeconomics and personal finance concepts) is fair game. If you’ve consistently learned the material, you should be in good shape. That doesn’t mean you don’t have to study, but if you have done well so far, chances are that with a solid review you should do well. If there are things you have struggled with, you may need extra help. I will make myself available as this test approaches. Just let me know ahead of time when you want to come in so we can work out any conflicts.

THINGS TO STUDY:

  1. Unit study guides 1-5: you should have all of these but if you don’t they’re still on the blog.
  2. PowerPoint notes-we’ve taken a billion of them but they are useful.
  3. Unit graph assignments-check them against the notes and the book and they should be a good source.
  4. Graded quizzes-we’ve taken a quiz on every concept that we’ve learned. Practice the skills on them again.
  5. Practice multiple choice and free response questions.
  6. The textbook-go back to it for concepts you didn’t quite get.

Below are concepts and skills that you should zero in on during your study time.

UNIT ONE: BASIC ECONOMIC CONCEPTS

  1. Given production possibilities for two products in chart or graph form, use the information to compute opportunity cost, predict future possibilities, analyze use of resources, and evaluate how events could affect possibilities.
  2. Given production data for two countries in hours or in units, solve for absolute and comparative advantage, determine a fair trade ratio between the countries, and show how trade improves the consumption possibilities of both countries.

UNIT TWO: INTRODUCTION TO MARKETS

  1. Analyze supply and demand graphs with regard to price and quantity. Also, evaluate the impact of supply and demand shifts and price ceilings and price floors on the market.
  2. Given a supply and demand graph, calculate consumer, producer, and total surplus.
  3. Evaluate the impact of a tax on the market with regard to price, quantity, surplus (consumer, producer, and total), tax revenue, who bears the burden of the tax, and deadweight loss.
  4. Evaluate the impact of international trade on a supply and demand graph with regard to price, quantity, and surplus. Also analyze the impact of tariffs and quotas with regard to price, quantity, surplus, tariff revenue and license holder surplus, and deadweight loss.

UNIT THREE: THEORY OF THE FIRM/MARKET STRUCTURES

  1. Given charts of costs for a firm, compute: TFC, TVC, TC, AFC, AVC, ATC, and MC.
  2. Analyze ATC for the firm in the short-run and the long-run and identify economies of scale, constant returns to scale, and diseconomies of scale.
  3. Identify the characteristics of perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and monopoly and their similarities and differences.
  4. Interpret a revenue and cost graph for a perfectly competitive firm with regard to price, output, revenue, cost, and profits.
  5. Interpret a revenue and cost graph for a pure monopoly with regard to price, output, revenue, cost, and profits
  6. Interpret a natural monopoly graph with regard to price and output and identify different regulation strategies and their impact on price and output.
  7. Interpret a payoff matrix/prisoner’s dilemma game with regard to dominant and dominated strategies and payoffs to the two players involved.

UNIT FOUR: FACTOR MARKETS

  1. Given total product data and product prices, compute marginal revenue product and calculate the number of workers a firm should hire when given the wage.
  2. Analyze labor market graphs for a competitive labor market and for a monopsony and determine the wage rate and number of workers hired.
  3. Compare and contrast the different union strategies both in their tactics and how they are illustrated graphically.

UNIT FIVE: MARKET FAILURES AND THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT

  1. Interpret a graph for a firm with a negative externality and for a firm with a positive externality.
  2. Apply the concepts of rivalry and excludability and classify goods as private, public, natural monopoly, or common resources.
  3. Analyze income distribution as relates to the Lorenz Curve and the Gini Index.

*You need to be prepared for this test. It will consist of true/false and multiple-choice (no free response or writing questions). Really focus on the graphs and know them like the back of your hand and you will be able to move through the test quickly. Remember that the grade you make on this test counts as a test grade regardless of how you do and it will also replace your 1 lowest test grade if you score higher. If you are using the 10 point option on the attendance incentive, it can only be used for the grade you make on this test, not as the replacement test grade. That will be the grade you actually make on the test.

Top View