Advanced Placement Economics
Mentor High School offers two Advanced Placement courses in economics, both of which are structured to prepare students to pass the Advanced Placement examinations in economic science. The exams, given in May of each year, are written and graded by the College Board and Educational Testing Service. Students who earn passing scores can qualify for college credit and advanced standing at the universities they enter after high school graduation. The courses are necessarily designed to parallel a college survey course. A college textbook is used. The scope and intensity of instruction is appropriate for students who desire a more challenging level of instruction in economics.
Microeconomics - Grades 10-12 (1/2 Credit, One Semester, Weighted)Microeconomics focuses on the behavior of individual firms and industries as component parts of the larger economic system. Topics covered in microeconomics include: price determination in markets for goods and services, competitive and monopolistic market structures, wage detemination (including mimimum-wage legislation), pollution regulation, taxation theory, income inequality and poverty.
Macroeconomics - Grades 10-12 (1/2 credit, One Semester, Weighted)
Macroeconomics focuses on the performance of the economy as a whole. The topics include: statistical measures of economic performance (GDP), inflation, unemployment, economic growth, fiscal and monetary policy tools for regulation of economic performance, and international trade.
Benefits of AP Economics
- Geared to prepare students for Advanced Placement Tests, AP Economics courses allow students the opportunity to earn college credit before ever setting foot out of high school. College credits earned in such a manner can save students hundreds of dollars in expensive college tuition costs. In a very practical sense, AP Economics can literally put money in students' pockets.
- In a growing global market place, AP Economics courses give students a fundamental understanding of a world based economy.
- All students in AP Economics have the opportunity to participate in the Ohio Stock Market Game, a fun competition among numerous high school teams from schools throughout the state. Each team is given a hypothethical $100,000 to build a portfolio in the equities markets within the United States. At the end of 10 weeks, the team with the portfolio of greatest dollar value wins.