High School AP Economics teacher Mr. Ethan Blonder has been selected as an official AP Microeconomics Reader, bringing invaluable grading insights directly back to our students.
High School AP Economics teacher Mr. Ethan Blonder has been selected as an official AP Microeconomics Reader, bringing invaluable grading insights directly back to our students.
Mr. Ethan Blonder
AP Microeconomics Teacher
At St. Paul American School Hanoi, our educators are constantly seeking ways to hone their craft and elevate their students’ learning experiences. This year, we are thrilled to celebrate a fantastic milestone for our AP Courses program: Mr. Ethan Blonder has been officially selected as an Advanced Placement (AP) Microeconomics Reader!
As an AP Reader, Mr. Ethan will join an elite panel of economics educators from colleges and high schools around the globe to evaluate and score the free-response sections of the AP Microeconomics Exam. He will be participating as a remote reader, diving deep into thousands of student responses right here in Hanoi.
We talked with Mr. Ethan to learn more about what this opportunity means for him and, most importantly, what it means for the future of our St. Paul students.
For any AP teacher, understanding the subtle nuances of exam grading is the ultimate tool. For Mr. Ethan, this achievement is seen as an opportunity to grow professionally and bring valuable knowledge back to his students.
“I often have students ask me, ‘Would this answer be okay on the exam?’ and I can never truly give them a 100% confident answer,” Mr. Ethan shared. “Reading for the AP Micro exam is a great chance for me to gain insight into the details of how AP readers evaluate answers so that I can support my students better in their exam prep.”
When asked about why he was selected, Mr. Ethan offered a humble response.
“I was selected because I have taught AP Microeconomics for the required number of years, and they needed people.”
While he downplays the selection, the truth remains that College Board only invites experienced educators who have demonstrated a sustained commitment to teaching the rigorous AP curriculum. Mr. Ethan’s years of dedicated service to his students are exactly what qualified him for the role. Furthermore, almost every student mentions his name as a teacher who had an impact on their educational or athletic growth while at St. Paul.
Looking ahead to the next school year, Mr. Ethan already has big plans to use this AP reading experience directly into his lesson plans.
“Next year, I plan to use what I’ve learned from AP reading to give my students clearer guidance on what exactly readers are looking for to make sure we maximize our exam performance,” he explained. “Our students already earn incredibly high scores, but any opportunity to raise them even further is worth pursuing.”
Speaking of high scores, visitors to Mr. Ethan’s classroom might notice a very special wall dedicated to academic excellence. It features pictures of an elite group of students who achieved the highest possible score, a 5, on both the AP Microeconomics and AP Macroeconomics exams after taking his classes. This hall of fame wall is known among AP Economics students as the 55 Club.
With a certified AP Reader at the front of the classroom next year, we have no doubt that the 55 Club wall is going to need a lot more space for students who got high scores.
Join us in congratulating Mr. Ethan Blonder on this wonderful achievement! We look forward to seeing our AP Economics students reach even greater heights next year!
College-level course designed to introduce high school students to the principles of economics that apply to the functions of individual decision-makers, both consumers and producers, within the economic system.
Unlike Macroeconomics, which looks at the economy as a whole (like inflation, GDP, and government policy), Microeconomics focuses on how specific markets operate.
