What students do
Each card is a news headline, often set in places my students know, like Woodmere, Lawrence, or Central Avenue. Students drag the curve the headline moves, left or right. Then a one-line why appears, written the way it would earn the point on the free-response section.
Each run deals eight headlines and a boss. There is no multiple choice until the optional Exam Sprint at the end: three questions in the exam's own voice, at the exam's pace. A gold medal needs 95% on the level and 2 of 3 in the sprint.
The seven levels and the AP topics they cover
| Level | What it covers | AP topics |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Demand Rookie | Aggregate demand only: consumption, investment, government spending, and net exports. | 3.1, 3.8, also 3.2 |
| 2. Supply Side | Adds short-run aggregate supply: input costs, expectations, and the price-level trap. | 3.3, 3.5, 3.6 |
| 3. Gap Attack | Adds long-run aggregate supply. Shift a curve, then name the gap you left behind. | 3.4 to 3.8, also 2.7, 5.6, 5.7 |
| 4. Money Market | The Fed sets a vertical money supply; money demand slopes down. The nominal interest rate is the price of holding money. | 4.5, 4.6 |
| 5. Loanable Funds | Savers supply, borrowers demand, and the price is the real interest rate. | 4.7, 5.5, also 5.4, 6.6 |
| 6. FOREX Floor | The market for dollars: appreciation, depreciation, and what each does to net exports. | 6.4, also 6.2, 6.3, 6.5 |
| 7. Phillips Finale | The trap level: a change in aggregate demand moves you along the curve; only supply shocks and expectations move the curve. | 5.2, also 5.1, 5.3 |
Topic numbers follow the College Board's AP Macroeconomics Course and Exam Description. Use each level after you teach its main topics.
A 38-minute class with Level 2
Before class. Level 2 opens after a student scores 75% on Level 1, and progress saves on each device. Have students clear Level 1 for homework, or plan a quick Level 1 run at the start of play.
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| 0 to 4 | Do now. Put one headline on the board: "Oil prices spike." Students sketch the AD-AS graph and show the shift on a mini whiteboard. |
| 4 to 9 | Model one card. Play the first card on the projector in Arcade Night mode (big type). Think aloud: which curve, which way, and why. Read the why line out loud and point to the exam wording. |
| 9 to 27 | Play. Students play on phones or Chromebooks, in pairs if devices are short. On a shared Chromebook, a quick run of Level 1 opens Level 2. Goal: clear Level 2, then try the Exam Sprint. |
| 27 to 33 | Debrief the traps. Ask what fooled people. Name the price-level trap: a change in the price level is a movement along a curve, not a shift. Each student rewrites one why in their own words and checks it against the game. |
| 33 to 38 | Exit ticket. The question below. Students also copy their readiness code from the arcade and paste it into Schoology. |
Exit ticket
Headline: Natural gas prices fall sharply.
- Draw a correctly labeled AD-AS graph that shows the short-run effect.
- What happens to the price level and to real GDP?
- Explain why in one sentence.
Scoring (3 points)
- 1 point: correctly labeled graph (price level and real GDP on the axes, AD and SRAS) with SRAS shifting right.
- 1 point: the price level falls and real GDP rises.
- 1 point: the why: natural gas is a key input, so lower prices cut per-unit production costs and increase short-run aggregate supply.
Five AP-style practice questions
Each one matches a level. The note under each question says why every wrong answer is wrong, which is the part students need most.
Consumer confidence falls sharply. In the short run, what happens in the AD-AS model? (Level 1, topic 3.1)
- AAggregate demand increases, so the price level and real GDP both rise.
- BAggregate demand decreases, so the price level and real GDP both fall.
- CShort-run aggregate supply decreases, so the price level rises and real GDP falls.
- DThe price level falls, so the economy moves down along the aggregate demand curve.
Why the others are wrong: A has the direction backward: less confidence means less consumption. C treats a spending change as a cost change. D is the trap: confidence is not the price level, so the curve shifts instead of the economy moving along it.
The price of oil, a key input, rises. In the short run, what happens in the AD-AS model? (Level 2, topic 3.3)
- AAggregate demand shifts left, so the price level and real GDP both fall.
- BLong-run aggregate supply shifts left, so real GDP falls and the price level rises.
- CShort-run aggregate supply shifts left, so the price level rises and real GDP falls.
- DShort-run aggregate supply shifts right, so the price level falls and real GDP rises.
Why the others are wrong: A confuses producers' costs with buyers' spending. B picks the wrong curve: a change in input prices shifts short-run aggregate supply, not long-run aggregate supply. D has the direction wrong: higher input costs decrease short-run aggregate supply.
The price level rises. What happens in the money market? (Level 4, topic 4.5)
- AMoney demand increases, and the nominal interest rate rises.
- BMoney demand decreases, and the nominal interest rate falls.
- CThe money supply decreases, and the nominal interest rate rises.
- DNeither curve moves, and the nominal interest rate stays the same.
Why the others are wrong: B has the direction backward: higher prices mean people need more money for the same purchases. C forgets that the Fed sets the money supply; the price level does not change it. D ignores money demand, which moves with the price level and real GDP.
The government runs a larger budget deficit and borrows to cover it. What happens in the loanable funds market? (Level 5, topic 5.5)
- ASupply of loanable funds increases, the real interest rate falls, and private investment rises.
- BDemand for loanable funds decreases, the real interest rate falls, and private investment rises.
- COnly the money market moves, so the real interest rate and private investment stay the same.
- DDemand for loanable funds increases, the real interest rate rises, and private investment falls.
Why the others are wrong: A treats borrowing as saving. B has the direction backward: government borrowing adds to demand. C picks the wrong market: government borrowing competes with private borrowers for loanable funds. (Some teachers show a deficit as a drop in supply instead. Either way, the real interest rate rises and private investment falls.)
Consumer spending surges while production costs and inflation expectations stay the same. What happens on the Phillips curve? (Level 7, topic 5.2)
- AThe short-run Phillips curve shifts right, so unemployment and inflation both rise.
- BThe economy moves down along the short-run Phillips curve: unemployment rises and inflation falls.
- CThe economy moves up along the short-run Phillips curve: unemployment falls and inflation rises.
- DThe long-run Phillips curve shifts left, so unemployment falls and inflation stays the same.
Why the others are wrong: A is the trap: only supply shocks and changes in expected inflation shift the short-run curve. B has the direction backward. D is wrong because the long-run curve sits at the natural rate of unemployment, which spending does not change.
Making it work for every student
- Read-aloud voice. Students can turn on a voice that reads the cards.
- Big type for the room. Arcade Night mode puts the game on the projector in large type.
- A sentence frame for the why. "When [event], [curve] shifts [left or right] because ___. As a result, ___."
- The sprint is optional. If the clock gets in the way, students can skip the Exam Sprint and still clear the level.
- The exam's own words. A built-in glossary defines the terms the way the exam uses them.
Student privacy
No accounts. Scores stay on each student's device. The class leaderboard stays off unless a teacher sets it up. Then it sends three initials, the game, the level, the score, and the student's arcade title and points to a Google Sheet the teacher owns. No names and no emails.