2018
AP Macroeconomics
Sample Student Responses
and Scoring Commentary
Inside:
Free Response Question 1
• Scoring Guideline
• Student Samples
• Scoring Commentary
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AP
®
MACROECONOMICS
2018 SCORING GUIDELINES
Question 1
10 points (2 + 3 + 2 + 3)
(a) 2 points:
•
One point is earned for drawing a correctly labeled graph for aggregate demand (AD) and short-run
aggregate supply (SRAS), showing
PL
1
and Y
1
at the intersection of AD and SRAS.
• One point is earned for drawing a vertical LRAS curve to the right of
Y
1
.
(b) 3 points:
• One point is earned for stating that United States exports will decrease and for explaining that the fall in
i
ncome in the euro zone reduces the demand for United States goods.
• One point is earned for showing a leftward shift of the aggregate demand (AD) curve and showing lower
U
nited States real output on the graph.
• One point is earned for stating that unemployment in the U.S. will increase.
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AP
®
MACROECONOMICS
2018 SCORING GUIDELINES
Question 1 (continued)
(c) 2 points:
•
One point is earned for stating that the euro will appreciate against the U.S. dollar because the supply of
euros decreases OR because the dollar depreciates against the euro, the euro must appreciate.
• One point is earned for drawing a correctly labeled graph of the foreign exchange market for dollars and
for showing a leftward shift in the demand curve for the dollar, which would result in a depreciation of
the dollar.
(d) 3 p
oints:
• One point is earned for stating that the U.S. aggregate demand will increase.
• One point is earned for stating that the U.S. price level will increase.
• One point is earned for stating that the change in the interest rate is indeterminate and for explaining that
the combination of expansionary fiscal and monetary policies has opposite effects on interest rates (the
expansionary fiscal policy will increase the interest rate, as government borrows to finance its spending,
and the expansionary monetary policy will increase the money supply and decrease the interest rate).
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AP
®
MACROECONOMICS
2018 SCORING COMMENTARY
Question 1
Overview
The question examined students’ understanding of the aggregate demand/aggregate supply (AD/AS) model and
t
he effects of a recession in the United States on its trading partners’ economies. Part (a) required students to use
the AD/AS model to show the United States economy in a recession by showing that the current level of output
(real gross domestic product) is less than the full employment level of output.
For part (b) students were asked to assume that the euro zone, a major trading partner of the United States, has
ent
ered into a recession. Then, in part (b)(i), students were asked to explain how the recession in the euro zone
would affect exports from the United States to the euro zone. Part (b)(ii) asked students to return to the graph
created for part (a) in order to show how the change in exports to the euro zone would affect real output in the
United States. Part (b)(iii) asked students to conclude how the change illustrated in part (b)(ii) would affect
unemployment in the United States.
For part (c) students were asked to assume that the euro zone recession caused a decrease in the demand for the
U
nited States dollar in the foreign exchange market. In part (c)(i) students were asked to explain whether this
would cause the euro to appreciate, depreciate, or remain unchanged in value against the dollar. Then, part (c)(ii)
asked the students to draw a correctly labeled graph of the foreign exchange market for dollars and to illustrate
the effect of the decrease in the demand for dollars on the exchange rate.
Finally, for part (d), students were asked to assume that the United States enacted a combination of expansionary
f
iscal and monetary policies and that the expansionary fiscal policy did not lead to complete crowding out.
Part (d)(i) required students to identify the policies’ effect on aggregate demand in the United States, part (d)(ii)
required the students to identify the policies’ effect on the price level in the United States, and part (d)(iii) required
the students to explain how the policies would affect interest rates in the United States.
Sa
mple: 1A
Score: 10
The student answers all parts of the question correctly and earned all 10 points.
Sam
ple: 1B
Score: 7
Th
e student did not earn 1 point in part (b)(i) because the response does not provide a correct explanation as to
why exports decrease. The student did not earn 1 point in part (b)(ii) because the graph does not show a decrease
in output on the horizontal axis. The student did not earn 1 point in part (d)(iii) because the response incorrectly
states that interest rates would decrease.
Sample: 1C
Score: 3
The student earned 1 point in part (a)(i) for drawing a correctly labeled graph of the aggregate
demand/aggregate supply model and correctly showing the equilibrium price level (
PL
1
and output (Y
1
)). The
student earned 1 point in part (d)(i) for correctly stating that aggregate demand will increase. The student
earned 1 point in part (d)(ii) for correctly stating that the price level will increase.
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