AP Business with Personal Finance, AP exams, 20–30%

Unit 2: Marketing

Unit 2 covers how a business finds and reaches its customers: choosing a target market, understanding why buyers decide as they do, and gathering data to test assumptions. It then works through the marketing mix of product, price, place, and promotion. Market research here is the same hypothesis testing the Business Canvas Project asks students to explain on exam day.

Position: 2 of 4 units
Published weighting: 20–30% in the official framework
Topics covered: 4 topics in this guide

What is covered

Topics inside this unit.

These topics describe the scope students most often review for this part of AP Business with Personal Finance. Treat them as a study checklist rather than an exhaustive list of what a single exam form can sample.

Target markets and segmentation: Dividing customers by need or behavior and choosing which group a product serves first.
Buyer behavior: The steps and influences behind a purchase decision, from noticing a need to buying again.
Market research and data: Surveys, interviews, and sales data, and how to tell whether evidence supports a product hypothesis.
The marketing mix: Product, pricing, distribution channels, and promotion, and how a change in one affects the others.

Study tips

How to practice Unit 2: Marketing.

Section-specific guidance that follows from how this material is usually tested.

Write each product idea as a testable hypothesis about a customer, then name the evidence that would prove it wrong.
Practice explaining how a price change ripples through the rest of the marketing mix.
Use your own project's survey results as worked examples; the pitch question asks how testing changed your decisions.

Where this fits

Unit 2: Marketing is 2 of 4 units in the AP Business with Personal Finance guide, and it carries a published weighting of 20–30% in the official framework. Use the full guide to balance it against everything else you have to review.

Back to the AP Business with Personal Finance guide Official exam information

Sample Unit 2: Marketing questions

Practice questions, not yet expert-reviewed

Original practice questions written to the published framework for this section. No expert has reviewed them, and they are not taken from any official exam. Try each one before you open the answer.

Question 1Foundational
A company stops selling its sneakers in department stores and sells them only through its own website. Which of the four Ps of the marketing mix has it changed?
1. AProduct
2. BPrice
3. CPromotion
4. DPlace
Show answer
Answer: D. Place
Place covers the channels a business uses to get its product to customers, so moving from department stores to the company's own website is a place decision. Promotion is the tempting distractor because a website is also used for advertising, but promotion is about how the company communicates with customers, not where they buy.
Key insight: Place answers where and how customers get the product.
Question 2Intermediate
A streaming service groups its subscribers by how many hours they watch each week and how often they renew. What type of market segmentation is it using?
1. ADemographic
2. BBehavioral
3. CGeographic
4. DPsychographic
Show answer
Answer: B. Behavioral
Behavioral segmentation divides customers by what they do, such as how much they use a product and how loyal they are, which fits viewing hours and renewal habits. Psychographic segmentation is the tempting distractor, but it groups people by lifestyle, values, and personality rather than by their actual usage.
Key insight: Behavioral segments are about what customers do; psychographic segments are about who they are.
Question 3Foundational
In the consumer buying decision process, which stage comes directly after a buyer recognizes a need?
1. AInformation search
2. BEvaluation of alternatives
3. CPurchase decision
4. DPost-purchase behavior
Show answer
Answer: A. Information search
Once a buyer recognizes a need, the next step is to gather information about products that could meet it, from sources such as friends, reviews, and ads. Evaluation of alternatives is the tempting distractor, but a buyer can only compare options after the search has turned them up.
Key insight: Need, search, evaluate, buy, then reflect.
Question 4Intermediate
A company launches a new game console at a high price to attract eager early buyers, then lowers the price over time to reach more customers. What pricing strategy is this?
1. APenetration pricing
2. BCost-plus pricing
3. CPrice skimming
4. DBundle pricing
Show answer
Answer: C. Price skimming
Price skimming starts high to capture buyers who will pay the most for something new, then cuts the price to reach more price-sensitive customers. Penetration pricing is the tempting distractor, but it works the other way, starting low to win market share quickly.
Key insight: Skimming starts high and comes down; penetration starts low to grab share.
Question 5Advanced
A startup plans to sell a low-cost phone to college students but tests demand by surveying shoppers inside a luxury department store. What is the main weakness of this research?
1. AThe sample does not represent the target market
2. BIt relies on secondary data instead of primary data
3. CSurveys cannot measure what customers think
4. DThe sample is too large to analyze accurately
Show answer
Answer: A. The sample does not represent the target market
Evidence can only test a product hypothesis if it comes from the people the product is meant for, and luxury shoppers are unlikely to match budget-minded students in income and needs. The secondary-data choice is the tempting distractor, but a survey the startup runs itself produces primary data, so the problem is who was asked, not how the data was gathered.
Key insight: Ask the customers you plan to serve, or the data cannot test your idea.

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