High school students compete in teams of 3 or 4 students. Teams must be registered and coached by a teacher. Students compete in the first round of competition online, with testing windows open in fall and spring. All teachers will be able to access their students’ scores. Top scoring teams from fall and spring testing will be invited to compete in the Illinois State Finals.

Please note, students who participate in the fall session are NOT eligible to participate again in the spring.

New Teachers

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 

New for 2026! You can use a CSV file to batch import teams! Check out this video to learn how to import teams via CSV: CSV Import 

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. 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
 

Case Study Practice

Case studies require students to use their personal finance knowledge to consider trade-offs and alternatives for a fictional family. Give your students a hands-on experience and get them prepared for the case study round of competition. At the Illinois State Finals and National Finals, students will have 75 minutes to complete the case study before presenting to the judges. 

Practice Case Study: 2024 IL Personal Finance Challenge Case Study
 

For a complete list of dates and deadlines, visit our Dates and Times page.

For a list of Frequently Asked Questions, visit The Rules page.