Class Review: AP Macroeconomics

I vividly remember sitting in the NSHAHS gymnasium as an eighth-grader and listening in awe as Dr. Vitow and the student panelists discussed what seemed to be an infinite number of various courses offered at the school. As I flipped through the open house class catalog and found at least three classes offered in each and every discipline, I immediately knew that North Shore was the right school for me. I couldn’t believe how many diverse classes were offered. Three years later, I still feel the same way each year as I search through the class catalog to select my classes for the upcoming school year.

Last year, as I was selecting my 11th-grade courses, I decided to diversify my schedule and take some classes in disciplines that I have never previously studied. Per the recommendations of countless seniors and even Dr. Vitow, I signed up for AP Macroeconomics with Mrs. Goldschmidt. At that point, I had never taken an economics course before, but I was ready to face the unknown and try this one out.

Surely enough, I quickly came to love the class. Mrs. Goldschmidt began the year by helping her students develop a “business mind.” She taught the basics of economics and explained the decisions that firms must make when deciding how to divide their limited resources. Students quickly learned the ins and outs of supply and demand, including how to graph shifts in the two factors. Mrs.Goldschmidt provides students with countless additional resources, such as an AP review book, and she is a heavy user of AP Classroom. Mrs. Goldschmidt posts practice AP exam questions to increase her students’ readiness for the upcoming May AP exam. In addition to preparing her students for the AP, Mrs.Goldschmidt values keeping her students up to date on world affairs and resolutions. She assigns monthly current event assignments, where students must read articles on a given topic and write a brief paragraph about what they learned. These assignments are a terrific way for students to “stay in the know.”

AP Macroeconomics is particularly great because of the optimistic and lively personality that Mrs.Goldschmidt brings to class each day. As the renowned author Michael Morpurgo famously said, “It’s the teacher that makes the difference, not the classroom.” Mrs. Goldschmidt definitely knows the difference between a boring class and an intriguing one, and she makes sure that her class falls under the latter.

Whether you’ve previously taken an economics course or not, I strongly recommend that you enroll in AP Macroeconomics. Remember, there is a first time for everything!