ECONOMICS MAJORS GRADUATING MAY 2008, AUG. 2008, DEC. 2008

ECONOMICS COMPREHENSIVE EXAM MFAT - ECONOMICS

The Major Field Achievement Test in Economics contains 90 multiple-choice questions, some of which are grouped in sets and based on such materials as diagrams, expository paragraphs, sets of equations, and tables of data.

The content categories and approximate distribution of questions among them is outlined below:

1) Introductory Material and Microeconomics (40% of the questions) Included are questions on basic introductory economics, elasticity, consumer choice, production functions and costs,
market structures (both short-run and long-run effects on profit maximization, economic
efficiency, and welfare), factor markets, and general equilibrium and optimization.

2) Macroeconomics (35% of the questions) Included are questions on economic performance, spending functions, saving and equality with investment, simple income-determination models, fiscal policy, financial sector, stabilization policy, and economic growth.

3) Statistics (10% of the questions) Included are questions on descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, and simple regression.

4) Other Areas (15% of the questions) Other areas covered include international trade, public economics, history of economic thought, and economic history.

5) MFAT based on GRE, but shorter, less difficult, pretested and revised to apply to all senior
economics majors. Two hour examination, 90 questions, five (5) options per question, no
penalty for guessing.

6) All economics majors must take this examination. The test will be given in the EC499 class.

7) TEST DATE: February 15, 2008  (2:00 - 5:00 pm in AD258)

8) Review Sessions: Watch for Announcements.

In designing the test, careful attention has been given to the balance among the various sub areas in economics. While the test assumes that most economics majors have had exposure to microeconomics and macroeconomics at the intermediate level, to quantitative economics (statistics), and probably to money and banking and international economics, it also recognizes that substantial emphasis on any one sub area would penalize those who have not taken courses devoted to it.

The test attempts to reflect the general undergraduate economic curriculum, but the population of students inevitably will vary. Scores on the Economics Test are reported as follows:

Total Score: Reported for each student and summarized for the group.

Subscores: Reported for each student and summarized for the group.

Microeconomics (31)

Macroeconomics (30)

---------. Numbers in parentheses are approximate number of questions in each category.