How do I adapt this for a block schedule?

On an A/B or 90-minute block, pair consecutive weeks into single blocks: teach demand and supply with equilibrium in one longer session, or cost curves with profit maximization together. You will cover the same 16 weeks of content in roughly 8 to 10 blocks. Use the extra in-class time for a /practice set and a whiteboard FRQ every block rather than adding new material, since the graph work is where students actually need the minutes.

Can I use this for a full-year course instead of one semester?

Yes. Run these 16 content weeks across the fall at the same order, then use the remaining time for deeper practice, mixed-unit FRQs, and cumulative review. Hold the Week 15 and 16 review structure for late April into the first week of May, right before the AP exam, and add a couple of full-length timed practice tests in the weeks leading up to it.

Can I swap the order of the units?

The CED order (Basic Concepts, Supply and Demand, Production and Perfect Competition, Imperfect Competition, Factor Markets, Market Failure) is the safest sequence because each unit builds on the last: perfect competition needs cost curves, monopoly reuses MR = MC, and factor markets reuse profit maximization. The one defensible swap is teaching Market Failure (Unit 6) right after Supply and Demand, since externalities lean on the same equilibrium graphs, but keep Units 3 and 4 in order.

When should students draw their first full FRQ?

Give a short low-stakes free-response in Week 2 to set expectations, then your first full CED-style graphing FRQ in Week 6 on a price-control diagram, when students have enough of the supply-and-demand toolkit to succeed. Grade it against the /frq-practice/draw rubric so they learn how graph points are actually awarded before the stakes rise.

Lesson plans

AP Microeconomics Pacing Guide: 16-Week One-Semester Syllabus

This is a 16-week pacing guide for a one-semester AP Microeconomics course running on roughly 50-minute periods. The unit order follows the current College Board CED, and the number of weeks per unit tracks exam weight: Supply and Demand (Unit 2, 20 to 25%) gets four weeks, Production and Perfect Competition (Unit 3, 22 to 25%) gets three, Imperfect Competition (Unit 4) gets three, and the lighter Factor Markets and Market Failure units get one week each. Weeks 15 and 16 are cumulative review.

Each week lists the topic, the exact CED codes it covers, a matching EconLearn lesson plan you can teach from, and one or two lines of honest pacing advice: what tends to drag, what you can compress into a warm-up, and where to slot the first FRQ. Read the notes before you lock your dates, because a few weeks (elasticity, cost curves, factor markets) reliably run long and a few (monopolistic competition) finish early.

Adapting the calendar is straightforward. On a fall or spring one-semester schedule, this guide runs start to finish and ends with a real cumulative exam in Week 15 or 16. On a full-year schedule, spread these 16 content weeks across the fall, use the slack for more practice sets and mixed-unit FRQs, and hold the Week 15 to 16 review structure for late April into the first week of May, right before the AP exam. On a block schedule, pair consecutive weeks into single longer blocks (see the FAQ).

Everything linked here is free on econlearn.org: the module lessons at /micro, interactive graph sandboxes, unit and topic practice sets, draw-the-graph FRQ practice, the trace-the-shock walkthroughs, flashcards, a full practice test, and the printable AP Microeconomics cram sheet. You do not need a login to assign any of it.

Week	Topic	CED	Notes
1	Scarcity, the PPC, and comparative advantage	MICRO 1.1, MICRO 1.2, MICRO 1.3, MICRO 1.4	Do not linger on definitions students already know; spend the time on PPC mechanics and comparative-advantage tables. Project /sandbox/ppc and cold-call opportunity cost off a bowed-out curve. These are easy exam points, so keep the pace brisk.
2	Cost-benefit and marginal analysis (consumer choice)	MICRO 1.5, MICRO 1.6	The utility-maximizing rule (MUx/Px = MUy/Py) drags if you over-explain it; a think-pair-share on a two-good utility table lands it faster. Assign /practice/consumer-choice as the exit ticket and give your first low-stakes short-answer FRQ here to set the routine.
3	Demand and supply	MICRO 2.1, MICRO 2.2	Unit 2 is 20 to 25% of the exam, so protect these weeks. Drill shift versus movement with whiteboard rounds and /sandbox/supply-demand; the single most common error all year is shifting a curve when only the good's own price changed.
4	Market equilibrium, surplus, and changes in equilibrium	MICRO 2.6, MICRO 2.7	Equilibrium, consumer and producer surplus, and the double-shift rule (price or quantity indeterminate) reward repetition. Budget one period for surplus shading and one for combined shifts; a quick /practice/supply-and-demand set shows you who is still guessing.
5	Price, income, and cross-price elasticity	MICRO 2.3, MICRO 2.4, MICRO 2.5	This is where the algebra scares people, and it runs long. Anchor it to the total-revenue test instead of memorized formulas, use /sandbox/elasticity to show the elastic and inelastic ranges live, and let students self-check on /practice/elasticity.
6	Price controls, taxes, and trade policy	MICRO 2.8, MICRO 2.9	Ceilings, floors, taxes, and tax incidence are graph-dense. Give your first full CED-style FRQ on a price-control graph this week and grade it against the /frq-practice/draw rubric so students see exactly where points come from.
7	Production function and short-run and long-run costs	MICRO 3.1, MICRO 3.2, MICRO 3.3	Unit 3 is the heaviest unit at 22 to 25%. The cost-curve family, with MC cutting both ATC and AVC at their minimums, is the make-or-break diagram; build it once by hand on the board, then let /sandbox/production-costs reinforce it.
8	Profit, profit maximization, and entry and exit	MICRO 3.4, MICRO 3.5, MICRO 3.6	Profit maximization at MR = MC and the shut-down rule (produce if P is at or above AVC) trip up anyone who never nailed the cost curves. Compress accounting-versus-economic profit into a warm-up and spend the class on shut-down decision drills.
9	Perfect competition, short run and long run	MICRO 3.7	The side-by-side market-and-firm graph is a perennial FRQ. Teach long-run adjustment as a story (profits pull entry, supply shifts right, price falls to minimum ATC) with /sandbox/perfect-competition, then close Unit 3 with a timed /practice/perfect-competition set.
10	Monopoly, deadweight loss, and price discrimination	MICRO 4.1, MICRO 4.2, MICRO 4.3	Monopoly goes smoothly if perfect competition stuck: same MR = MC rule, price read up off demand, deadweight loss shaded. Use /sandbox/monopoly to contrast the two structures side by side and assign the price-discrimination reading for homework.
11	Monopolistic competition	MICRO 4.4	A short week by design. The long-run tangency (zero economic profit, excess capacity, P above MC) is the only genuinely new idea; a think-pair-share comparing it to perfect competition on /sandbox/monopolistic-competition covers it in two periods.
12	Oligopoly and game theory	MICRO 4.5	Game theory is high-interest and fast. Run a live prisoner's-dilemma payoff matrix on the board, cold-call for each player's dominant strategy and the Nash equilibrium, then close with /practice/oligopoly to lock in matrix reading.
13	Factor markets, MRP = MFC, and monopsony	MICRO 5.1, MICRO 5.2, MICRO 5.3, MICRO 5.4	The unit students most often under-prepare. Hammer that factor demand is derived and that MRP = MFC mirrors MR = MC; /sandbox/factor-markets shows the labor-market shifts, and monopsony (MFC above supply) needs a full period of its own.
14	Externalities, public goods, and inequality	MICRO 6.1, MICRO 6.2, MICRO 6.3, MICRO 6.4, MICRO 6.5	A small unit with dense graphs. Prioritize the externality diagrams (MSC above MPC with a corrective tax) on /sandbox/externality, then treat public goods, the free-rider problem, and the Lorenz curve and Gini material as one reading-and-discussion day; assign /practice/public-goods-externalities.
15	Cumulative review and diagnostic		Diagnose first: assign a full /practice-test, then reteach the two weakest units the results expose. Print /cram-sheet/ap-microeconomics as the anchor and run /frq-practice/draw on the graph-heavy units. A one-semester course ends here, so make this a real cumulative exam; a full-year course uses this slot in late April.
16	Exam-week retrieval and mock exam		Spend the week on retrieval, not new content: daily /flashcards blocks, one timed multiple-choice section, and a mock FRQ set from /graph-walkthroughs and /frq-practice/draw. Full-year classes hit this the first week of May and use /cram-sheet/ap-microeconomics for the night-before review.

Teacher FAQ

How do I adapt this for a block schedule?: On an A/B or 90-minute block, pair consecutive weeks into single blocks: teach demand and supply with equilibrium in one longer session, or cost curves with profit maximization together. You will cover the same 16 weeks of content in roughly 8 to 10 blocks. Use the extra in-class time for a /practice set and a whiteboard FRQ every block rather than adding new material, since the graph work is where students actually need the minutes.
Can I use this for a full-year course instead of one semester?: Yes. Run these 16 content weeks across the fall at the same order, then use the remaining time for deeper practice, mixed-unit FRQs, and cumulative review. Hold the Week 15 and 16 review structure for late April into the first week of May, right before the AP exam, and add a couple of full-length timed practice tests in the weeks leading up to it.
Can I swap the order of the units?: The CED order (Basic Concepts, Supply and Demand, Production and Perfect Competition, Imperfect Competition, Factor Markets, Market Failure) is the safest sequence because each unit builds on the last: perfect competition needs cost curves, monopoly reuses MR = MC, and factor markets reuse profit maximization. The one defensible swap is teaching Market Failure (Unit 6) right after Supply and Demand, since externalities lean on the same equilibrium graphs, but keep Units 3 and 4 in order.
When should students draw their first full FRQ?: Give a short low-stakes free-response in Week 2 to set expectations, then your first full CED-style graphing FRQ in Week 6 on a price-control diagram, when students have enough of the supply-and-demand toolkit to succeed. Grade it against the /frq-practice/draw rubric so they learn how graph points are actually awarded before the stakes rise.
What does EconLearn cover for free, and do students need accounts?: All of it is free and no login is required to assign it. That includes the module lessons under /micro, the interactive graph sandboxes, per-unit and per-topic practice sets, draw-the-graph FRQ practice, the trace-the-shock walkthroughs, spaced-repetition flashcards, a full practice test, and the printable /cram-sheet/ap-microeconomics. You can drop any of these links straight into your LMS.

Assign this without the grading

A free pilot semester gets you the teacher dashboard: assign the module and practice set from this plan, run lockdown exams, and see per-student progress. Students never pay either way.

Start your free pilot

AP Microeconomics Pacing Guide: 16-Week One-Semester Syllabus

Week	Topic	CED	Notes
1	Scarcity, the PPC, and comparative advantage	MICRO 1.1, MICRO 1.2, MICRO 1.3, MICRO 1.4	Do not linger on definitions students already know; spend the time on PPC mechanics and comparative-advantage tables. Project /sandbox/ppc and cold-call opportunity cost off a bowed-out curve. These are easy exam points, so keep the pace brisk.
2	Cost-benefit and marginal analysis (consumer choice)	MICRO 1.5, MICRO 1.6	The utility-maximizing rule (MUx/Px = MUy/Py) drags if you over-explain it; a think-pair-share on a two-good utility table lands it faster. Assign /practice/consumer-choice as the exit ticket and give your first low-stakes short-answer FRQ here to set the routine.
3	Demand and supply	MICRO 2.1, MICRO 2.2	Unit 2 is 20 to 25% of the exam, so protect these weeks. Drill shift versus movement with whiteboard rounds and /sandbox/supply-demand; the single most common error all year is shifting a curve when only the good's own price changed.
4	Market equilibrium, surplus, and changes in equilibrium	MICRO 2.6, MICRO 2.7	Equilibrium, consumer and producer surplus, and the double-shift rule (price or quantity indeterminate) reward repetition. Budget one period for surplus shading and one for combined shifts; a quick /practice/supply-and-demand set shows you who is still guessing.
5	Price, income, and cross-price elasticity	MICRO 2.3, MICRO 2.4, MICRO 2.5	This is where the algebra scares people, and it runs long. Anchor it to the total-revenue test instead of memorized formulas, use /sandbox/elasticity to show the elastic and inelastic ranges live, and let students self-check on /practice/elasticity.
6	Price controls, taxes, and trade policy	MICRO 2.8, MICRO 2.9	Ceilings, floors, taxes, and tax incidence are graph-dense. Give your first full CED-style FRQ on a price-control graph this week and grade it against the /frq-practice/draw rubric so students see exactly where points come from.
7	Production function and short-run and long-run costs	MICRO 3.1, MICRO 3.2, MICRO 3.3	Unit 3 is the heaviest unit at 22 to 25%. The cost-curve family, with MC cutting both ATC and AVC at their minimums, is the make-or-break diagram; build it once by hand on the board, then let /sandbox/production-costs reinforce it.
8	Profit, profit maximization, and entry and exit	MICRO 3.4, MICRO 3.5, MICRO 3.6	Profit maximization at MR = MC and the shut-down rule (produce if P is at or above AVC) trip up anyone who never nailed the cost curves. Compress accounting-versus-economic profit into a warm-up and spend the class on shut-down decision drills.
9	Perfect competition, short run and long run	MICRO 3.7	The side-by-side market-and-firm graph is a perennial FRQ. Teach long-run adjustment as a story (profits pull entry, supply shifts right, price falls to minimum ATC) with /sandbox/perfect-competition, then close Unit 3 with a timed /practice/perfect-competition set.
10	Monopoly, deadweight loss, and price discrimination	MICRO 4.1, MICRO 4.2, MICRO 4.3	Monopoly goes smoothly if perfect competition stuck: same MR = MC rule, price read up off demand, deadweight loss shaded. Use /sandbox/monopoly to contrast the two structures side by side and assign the price-discrimination reading for homework.
11	Monopolistic competition	MICRO 4.4	A short week by design. The long-run tangency (zero economic profit, excess capacity, P above MC) is the only genuinely new idea; a think-pair-share comparing it to perfect competition on /sandbox/monopolistic-competition covers it in two periods.
12	Oligopoly and game theory	MICRO 4.5	Game theory is high-interest and fast. Run a live prisoner's-dilemma payoff matrix on the board, cold-call for each player's dominant strategy and the Nash equilibrium, then close with /practice/oligopoly to lock in matrix reading.
13	Factor markets, MRP = MFC, and monopsony	MICRO 5.1, MICRO 5.2, MICRO 5.3, MICRO 5.4	The unit students most often under-prepare. Hammer that factor demand is derived and that MRP = MFC mirrors MR = MC; /sandbox/factor-markets shows the labor-market shifts, and monopsony (MFC above supply) needs a full period of its own.
14	Externalities, public goods, and inequality	MICRO 6.1, MICRO 6.2, MICRO 6.3, MICRO 6.4, MICRO 6.5	A small unit with dense graphs. Prioritize the externality diagrams (MSC above MPC with a corrective tax) on /sandbox/externality, then treat public goods, the free-rider problem, and the Lorenz curve and Gini material as one reading-and-discussion day; assign /practice/public-goods-externalities.
15	Cumulative review and diagnostic		Diagnose first: assign a full /practice-test, then reteach the two weakest units the results expose. Print /cram-sheet/ap-microeconomics as the anchor and run /frq-practice/draw on the graph-heavy units. A one-semester course ends here, so make this a real cumulative exam; a full-year course uses this slot in late April.
16	Exam-week retrieval and mock exam		Spend the week on retrieval, not new content: daily /flashcards blocks, one timed multiple-choice section, and a mock FRQ set from /graph-walkthroughs and /frq-practice/draw. Full-year classes hit this the first week of May and use /cram-sheet/ap-microeconomics for the night-before review.

Teacher FAQ

How do I adapt this for a block schedule?: On an A/B or 90-minute block, pair consecutive weeks into single blocks: teach demand and supply with equilibrium in one longer session, or cost curves with profit maximization together. You will cover the same 16 weeks of content in roughly 8 to 10 blocks. Use the extra in-class time for a /practice set and a whiteboard FRQ every block rather than adding new material, since the graph work is where students actually need the minutes.
Can I use this for a full-year course instead of one semester?: Yes. Run these 16 content weeks across the fall at the same order, then use the remaining time for deeper practice, mixed-unit FRQs, and cumulative review. Hold the Week 15 and 16 review structure for late April into the first week of May, right before the AP exam, and add a couple of full-length timed practice tests in the weeks leading up to it.
Can I swap the order of the units?: The CED order (Basic Concepts, Supply and Demand, Production and Perfect Competition, Imperfect Competition, Factor Markets, Market Failure) is the safest sequence because each unit builds on the last: perfect competition needs cost curves, monopoly reuses MR = MC, and factor markets reuse profit maximization. The one defensible swap is teaching Market Failure (Unit 6) right after Supply and Demand, since externalities lean on the same equilibrium graphs, but keep Units 3 and 4 in order.
When should students draw their first full FRQ?: Give a short low-stakes free-response in Week 2 to set expectations, then your first full CED-style graphing FRQ in Week 6 on a price-control diagram, when students have enough of the supply-and-demand toolkit to succeed. Grade it against the /frq-practice/draw rubric so they learn how graph points are actually awarded before the stakes rise.
What does EconLearn cover for free, and do students need accounts?: All of it is free and no login is required to assign it. That includes the module lessons under /micro, the interactive graph sandboxes, per-unit and per-topic practice sets, draw-the-graph FRQ practice, the trace-the-shock walkthroughs, spaced-repetition flashcards, a full practice test, and the printable /cram-sheet/ap-microeconomics. You can drop any of these links straight into your LMS.

Assign this without the grading

A free pilot semester gets you the teacher dashboard: assign the module and practice set from this plan, run lockdown exams, and see per-student progress. Students never pay either way.

Start your free pilot