Advanced Placement Microeconomics

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Course Welcome Letter Fall 2021

Hello Students,Parents and Guardians,

Welcome to AP Microeconomics!  My name is Jim Gill and I am your child’s Advanced Placement Microeconomics teacher.  The past eighteen months have been challenging in many ways.  We were compelled to make adjustments to our daily lives. Our personal choices and the decisions we made as a society have been dominated by the COVID- 19 pandemic.  This is certainly the case as we begin the 2021-2022 school year.  An economics course is a graduation requirement.  Taking this AP course will fulfill that requirement as well as provide an opportunity to earn college credit.  AP Microeconomics, in particular, is uniquely positioned to help students understand the world around them and the paths they choose to take as we make our way through these challenging times.

This semester-long course is designed to help you develop critical thinking skills necessary to compete in the 21st century through the understanding, application, and analysis of fundamental microeconomic concepts.  A number of important concepts in economics are best understood from a theoretical perspective and are often, most easily, explained by using graphs.  The usefulness of economics can be found in its application to your personal economic life.  That is to say, hiding behind such economic concepts as scarcity, opportunity costs, monopolies, supply and demand, and competitive markets are connections to the choices you make on a daily basis. 

The course is very similar to microeconomics courses offered at the college level.  This course prepares students for the AP Microeconomics Examination on May 6, 2022 at 12:00.   The cost of the exam is $96.  More information regarding how to pay and register  for the exam will be available shortly. Compared to the thousands of dollars this course could cost you in college it seems that you have made a wise economic choice. There will be after school review sessions during the spring semester to help you prepare for the exam.  The exam consists of 60 multiple choice questions and 3 free response questions.  

Grading Policy

Tests/Papers/Projects:  50%

Quizzes:  20%

Homework/Classwork:  30%

Textbook

Ray, Margaret and Anderson, David. Krugman’s Economics for AP* 2nd ed. Worth Publishers (New York; 2011)

Course Curriculum- A more comprehensive curriculum map will be posted separately.

UNIT 1: Basic Economic Concepts 

UNIT 2: Nature and Function of Product Markets 

UNIT 3: Types of Market Structures

UNIT 4:  Derived Demand

UNIT 5: Market Failures

Your support is important and appreciated.  If you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact me.  My phone number is 256- 4175 ext. 69522 and my email address is jgill@newpaltz.k12.ny.us .  Together we can provide the support to help your child display their resilience, flexibility and commitment towards a successful school year.

Sincerely,

James E. Gill