High school students compete in teams of 3- 4 students. Teams must be registered and coached by a teacher. Students compete in the first round of competition online, with testing windows open January 1-February 20, 2026. All teachers will be able to access their students’ scores. Top scoring teams from the  testing round will be invited to the state finals hosted on March 14, 2026 at the University of Central Arkansas (UCA).

Below are the step by step rules to partcipate. There is a linked video for each step which has been provided courtesty of the Nebraska Council on Economic Education who host the national portal. The process is the same for all states.

Teacher Registration

You will need to complete Teacher Registration and be approved by your local administrator before you can begin creating teams. Watch this video for help: New Teacher Registration

Creating Teams

If you are ready to create teams for this year's competition, you may do so by accessing your Team Administration page and selecting 'Create New Team'. Watch this video for help: Creating a Team

Student Access Codes

Once your teams have been created, each student will be assigned a unique access code that can only be used once – at the time of completing the challenge – and can only be used by that student. Watch this video for help: Student Codes

Completing the Challenge

When it is time for students to complete the challenge, they will select 'Student Access' and enter their access code that was assigned to them. They will then complete a short identification and challenge integrity confirmation before they begin the challenge. 

PLEASE NOTE: STUDENTS DO NOT NEED TO ENTER THEIR EMAIL ADDRESS.

Watch this video for help: Completing the Challenge

Accessing Student Data

Once all your student teams have completed the challenge, teachers can access their scoring and category data from their team administration page. Scoring data will show both the individual student score as well as the team score, while the category report will show student performance in each subject. Watch this video for help in this area: Accessing Student Data

 

AR Personal Finance Challenge Finals 

The state finals competition will be an in-person competition for qualifying teams consisting of two components:

A testing portion: During the Challenge, students will showcase their knowledge as they complete a personal financeexam focused on key concepts below. Students test individually and their scores are averaged for a team total.

Team Presentations: Teams will receive information about the topic for the Team Presentation in advance of the competition. They will prepare a 6 minute presentation on the topic, print copies of their presentation, and be prepared to share and answer questions in front of judges.

Additional details will be shared with qualifying teams.