• 55 questions

AP Macroeconomics Practice Test Unit 1

Unofficial AP Macroecon Unit 1 practice test on Basic Economic Concepts: scarcity, the PPC, comparative advantage, supply and demand.

By the course framework, why are individuals and societies forced to make choices?

Pick an answer, then press Check answer. Then you see Correct or Not quite, with the reason. Keys: A to D pick, Enter checks.

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Unofficial practice questions, not affiliated with the College Board. Bank checked October 14, 2026.

Next step Later unit: AP Macro Unit 5More supply and demand practice

All 55 questions

Topic 1.1: Scarcity 5

  • A farmer uses a field, hired workers and a tractor. Which factor of production is the tractor? Wikipedia, "Factors of production"; course topic 1.1, essential knowledge MOD-1.A.1
  • A rich country has more of every resource than a poor one. Does the rich country still face scarcity? Wikipedia, "Scarcity"; course topic 1.1, essential knowledge MOD-1.A.1
  • By the course framework, why are individuals and societies forced to make choices? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.1, essential knowledge MOD-1.A.1
  • Economists say that every society faces scarcity. What do they mean? Wikipedia, "Scarcity"; course topic 1.1, essential knowledge MOD-1.A.1
  • Economists sort resources into four factors of production. Which list names them? Wikipedia, "Factors of production"; course topic 1.1, essential knowledge MOD-1.A.1
Show all 55 questions (50 more)

Topic 1.2: Opportunity cost and the production possibilities curve 15

  • A PPC is a straight line. What does that show? Wikipedia, "Production–possibility frontier"; course topic 1.2, essential knowledge MOD-1.B.3
  • A PPC is bowed outward from the origin. What does that shape show? Wikipedia, "Production–possibility frontier"; course topic 1.2, essential knowledge MOD-1.B.3
  • A storm destroys a large part of the factories and machines of a country. What happens to its PPC? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.2, essential knowledge MOD-1.B.4
  • An economy can make 0, 10, 20 or 30 units of food together with 60, 50, 30 or 0 units of clothing. What is the opportunity cost of raising food from 10 to 20 units? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.2, essential knowledge MOD-1.B.3; answer worked from the numbers in the question
  • An economy is in a recession, with idle factories and unemployed workers. Where is it on its PPC graph? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.2, essential knowledge MOD-1.B.2
  • An economy moves along its PPC, producing more cars and fewer computers. What does the lost output of computers measure? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.2, essential knowledge MOD-1.B.2
  • In macroeconomics, what level of output do the points on the PPC stand for? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.2, enduring understanding MOD-1
  • Two points on the PPC of an economy are 100 tons of wheat with 40 tons of steel, and 80 tons of wheat with 50 tons of steel. Between them, what is the opportunity cost of one more ton of steel? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.2, essential knowledge MOD-1.B.2; answer worked from the numbers in the question
  • What does a point inside the PPC show? Wikipedia, "Production–possibility frontier"; course topic 1.2, essential knowledge MOD-1.B.2
  • What does a point outside the PPC show? Wikipedia, "Production–possibility frontier"; course topic 1.2, essential knowledge MOD-1.B.2
  • What does a production possibilities curve (PPC) show? Wikipedia, "Production–possibility frontier"; course topic 1.2, essential knowledge MOD-1.B.1
  • What does an outward shift of the PPC represent? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.2, essential knowledge MOD-1.B.5
  • What is the opportunity cost of a choice? Wikipedia, "Opportunity cost"; course topic 1.2, essential knowledge MOD-1.B.2
  • Which change shifts the PPC outward? Wikipedia, "Production–possibility frontier"; course topic 1.2, essential knowledge MOD-1.B.4
  • Why does opportunity cost rise along a bowed-out PPC? Wikipedia, "Production–possibility frontier"; course topic 1.2, essential knowledge MOD-1.B.3

Topic 1.3: Comparative advantage and gains from trade 12

  • A table costs Ana 2 chairs to make and costs Ben 3 chairs. Ana sells tables to Ben for chairs. Which price of one table lets both gain? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.3, essential knowledge MKT-1.B.2; answer worked from the numbers in the question
  • Ana can make 8 chairs or 4 tables in a day. Ben can make 6 chairs or 2 tables. Who has the comparative advantage in chairs? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.3, essential knowledge MKT-1.A.2; answer worked from the numbers in the question
  • Ana can make 8 chairs or 4 tables in a day. Ben can make 6 chairs or 2 tables. Who has the comparative advantage in tables? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.3, essential knowledge MKT-1.A.2; answer worked from the numbers in the question
  • Ana can make 8 chairs or 4 tables in a day. What is her opportunity cost of one table? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.3, essential knowledge MKT-1.A.2; answer worked from the numbers in the question
  • By the course framework, what do specialization by comparative advantage and trade make possible? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.3, essential knowledge MKT-1.B.1
  • Country A needs 2 hours to make a shirt and 4 hours to make a radio. Country B needs 3 hours for a shirt and 12 hours for a radio. In which good should Country B specialize? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.3, essential knowledge MKT-1.B.1; answer worked from the numbers in the question
  • Country A needs 2 hours to make a shirt and 4 hours to make a radio. Country B needs 3 hours for a shirt and 12 hours for a radio. Which country has the comparative advantage in radios? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.3, essential knowledge MKT-1.A.2; answer worked from the numbers in the question
  • Country X can produce every good with fewer resources than Country Y. Can both countries still gain from trade? Wikipedia, "Comparative advantage"; course topic 1.3, essential knowledge MKT-1.B.1
  • In one day Ana can make 8 chairs or 4 tables. Ben can make 6 chairs or 2 tables. Who has the absolute advantage in each good? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.3, essential knowledge MKT-1.A.1; answer worked from the numbers in the question
  • What is absolute advantage? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.3, essential knowledge MKT-1.A.1
  • What is comparative advantage? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.3, essential knowledge MKT-1.A.2
  • What sets the range of terms of trade at which two producers both gain? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.3, essential knowledge MKT-1.B.2

Topic 1.4: Demand 7

  • Consumer incomes rise. What happens to the demand curve for a normal good? Wikipedia, "Normal good"; course topic 1.4, essential knowledge MKT-2.B.1
  • Many shoppers treat tea and coffee as substitutes. A frost pushes up the price of coffee. What happens to tea? Wikipedia, "Substitute good"; course topic 1.4, essential knowledge MKT-2.B.1
  • The price of coffee falls and people buy more coffee. On a graph of the coffee market, what is this? Wikipedia, "Law of demand"; course topic 1.4, essential knowledge MKT-2.A.1
  • Printers and ink cartridges are complements. The price of printers falls. What happens in the market for ink cartridges? Wikipedia, "Complementary good"; course topic 1.4, essential knowledge MKT-2.B.1
  • What does the law of demand state? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.4, essential knowledge MKT-2.A.1
  • When household incomes go up, people buy less second-hand clothing. Which term describes second-hand clothing? Wikipedia, "Inferior good"; course topic 1.4, essential knowledge MKT-2.B.1
  • Which event shifts the demand curve for movie tickets? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.4, essential knowledge MKT-2.B.1

Topic 1.5: Supply 6

  • A drought ruins much of the wheat crop. What happens in the market for wheat? Wikipedia, "Supply (economics)"; course topic 1.5, essential knowledge MKT-2.D.1
  • A new technology lowers the cost of making solar panels. What happens in the market for solar panels? Wikipedia, "Supply (economics)"; course topic 1.5, essential knowledge MKT-2.D.1
  • The price of an input rises. Which way does the supply curve shift? Wikipedia, "Supply (economics)"; course topic 1.5, essential knowledge MKT-2.D.1
  • The price of wheat rises and farmers offer more wheat for sale. On a graph of the wheat market, what is this? Wikipedia, "Law of supply"; course topic 1.5, essential knowledge MKT-2.C.1
  • What does the law of supply state? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.5, essential knowledge MKT-2.C.1
  • Which event shifts the supply curve for bread? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.5, essential knowledge MKT-2.D.1

Topic 1.6: Market equilibrium, disequilibrium and changes in equilibrium 10

  • A market has a shortage. What do sellers do? Wikipedia, "Shortage"; course topic 1.6, essential knowledge MKT-2.F.1
  • A market has a surplus. What happens to the price? Wikipedia, "Economic equilibrium"; course topic 1.6, essential knowledge MKT-2.F.1
  • At a price of $2 the quantity demanded is 90 units and the quantity supplied is 50 units. What is the result? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.6, essential knowledge MKT-2.F.1; answer worked from the numbers in the question
  • At a price of $6 the quantity demanded is 40 units and the quantity supplied is 70 units. What is the result? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.6, essential knowledge MKT-2.F.1; answer worked from the numbers in the question
  • At prices of $2, $3, $4 and $5 the quantity demanded is 80, 70, 60 and 50 units and the quantity supplied is 40, 50, 60 and 70 units. What is the equilibrium price? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.6, essential knowledge MKT-2.E.1; answer worked from the numbers in the question
  • Demand increases and supply does not change. What happens to the equilibrium price and quantity? Wikipedia, "Economic equilibrium"; course topic 1.6, essential knowledge MKT-2.G.1
  • Laptops are a normal good. Incomes rise in the same year that a new technology cuts the cost of making laptops. What happens in the laptop market? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.6, essential knowledge MKT-2.G.1
  • Supply decreases while demand increases. What can be said about the new equilibrium? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.6, essential knowledge MKT-2.G.1
  • Supply increases and demand does not change. What happens to the equilibrium price and quantity? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.6, essential knowledge MKT-2.G.1
  • When is a market in equilibrium? College Board, AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, topic 1.6, essential knowledge MKT-2.E.1

How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to Unit 1 (Basic Economic Concepts) of the College Board's AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description, effective fall 2026, https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/ap-macroeconomics-course-and-exam-description.pdf, read 2026-10-14: topics 1.1 to 1.6. The rule behind each answer was read on 2026-10-14 in the essential knowledge statement of the course description or the Wikipedia article named under the question. Every calculated answer is worked from the numbers the question prints and was worked out a second time. Licence: Own work. Short quotations from the public documents named under each question.

How it works

This AP Macroeconomics practice test for Unit 1 has 55 questions of our own on Basic Economic Concepts. The College Board owns AP and did not make or endorse these questions: the practice is unofficial.

Read the full guide

What Unit 1 covers

The College Board's course description, effective fall 2026 and read October 14, 2026, gives Unit 1 six topics and no weights among them, so the spread is ours: scarcity (5 questions), opportunity cost and the production possibilities curve (15), comparative advantage and gains from trade (12), demand (7), supply (6) and market equilibrium, disequilibrium and changes in equilibrium (10).

Graphs and tables in words

The exam has you draw the PPC and the supply and demand graph. Here each graph is put into words: which curve moves, which way, and where price and quantity end up. Opportunity costs, terms of trade, surpluses and shortages are worked from the numbers in the question.

  • For comparative advantage, write each producer's opportunity cost of one unit first. The lower cost wins, whoever makes more.
  • A change in a good's own price moves along its curve. Anything else shifts the curve.
  • When both curves shift, one of price and quantity is certain and the other is not. Work each shift alone, then compare.

Questions and answers

What is Unit 1 of AP Macroeconomics?

Basic Economic Concepts, the first of six units: scarcity, the production possibilities curve, comparative advantage and trade, demand, supply and market equilibrium. It carries 5 to 10% of the multiple-choice section, by the College Board's course page.

What should an AP Macro Unit 1 Basic Economic Concepts study guide cover?

An AP Macroeconomics study guide for Unit 1 needs the factors of production, the PPC and its shifts, absolute and comparative advantage, terms of trade, the laws of demand and supply, the shifters of each curve, surplus, shortage and equilibrium.

What shifts demand in AP Macroeconomics Unit 1?

Anything but the good's own price: consumer income (up for a normal good, down for an inferior one), the prices of substitutes and complements, population and expectations. A price change only moves buyers along the curve.

Is this the AP Macroeconomics Unit 1 Progress Check?

No. The Progress Check, about 20 multiple-choice questions by the course description, is the College Board's own and is assigned in AP Classroom. The questions here are ours and copy no real exam question.

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