Everyone can compete in the FinanceChallenge ONLINE!

Teacher Registration: Teachers can register at https://financechallenge.unl.edu/

• Once your registration is approved, you can begin to create student teams of 3 to 4 students. 
• When creating your teams, if you county had a data issue, please register your students first name and last initial.  When the students enter the portal tell them not to provide their email address.
• All members of a team must be from the same public school, private school, community organization or club, or afterschool proram.  This means that students from differrent schools are eligible to be on the same team if they are all a part of one of the groups mentioned in this section.
• After creating the teams you will be given unique access codes for each student. Students will be scored as a team, but must complete the Challenge individually.   Distribute these access codes to your students when they are ready to take the Challenge December 16th - December 20th 2024 for FALL and March 24th - March 28th 2025 at noon for SPRING. Students can enter the website and complete a 40 question rapid fire exam consisting of financial literacy concepts.  Students testing in December CANNOT test in March.

CONTEST FORMAT

Once the session begins, students can enter the Finance Challenge ONLINE website and complete a 40 question, rapid-fire exam consisting of categories on Income and Money Management, Spending and Credit, and Saving and Investing.  Students have 45 minutes to complete their individual test.  All students from the same school must take the test at the same time.

• Student Testing
  • a. Each student is to complete the challenge as an individual; students do not work as a group.
  • b. A teacher or certified staff member must be in attendance during the entire testing period to ensure that the rules are followed.
  • c. The teacher/certified staff member may not help the student by guiding them or re-phrasing a question. Once the test begins there should be no assistance given to the student.
  • d. Students are only allowed a pencil and scratch paper.
  • e.  This is an On-Line competition. It is the student's responsibility to secure a computer that can provide an uninterrupted signal to the testing site. The Maryland Council on Economic Education cannot be held responsible for students or teams that cannot complete the test due to computer problems.  The test cannot be reset due to computer errors at the school or home.
  • f.  If testing is held at school, it is the school's responsible for maintaining an uninterrupted environment for students to test. The test cannot be reset due to circumstances such as bells ringing, fire alarms, students being called out of the classroom or any such event.  The school is responsible for providing a proctored testing area.   Students must be supervised by a school staff member at all times.
• Scoring: the sum of the top three individual scores on each team make up the team score.  Students are awarded 10 points for every correct answer - with a maximum individual score of 400 and a maximum team score of 1200.  Teachers will have access to both individual and team scores once the Challenge has been completed.
• The top eight scoring teams of the FinanceChallenge ONLINE! Fall and Spring competition combined will receive notification once the competition has ended. These teams will then move on to the next round of competition -- an in person case study analysis and presentation in on April 9, 2025 at the Federal Reserve Bank in Baltimore. (Only one team per school can qualify for the top six).  (Ties are broken first by the team score of all four team members and if still in a tie, then by the time it took each team to complete the questions). 
• The top four in the case analysis round will then compete in a Quiz Bowl Round to determine the 1st place winner of the 2025 competition.
• Prizes:  First Place:  $250 for each student member of the team and the teacher; Second Place: $125 for each student member of the team and the teacher: Third Place: $100 for each student member of the team and the teacher; Fourth Place: $50 for each student member of the team and the teacher.

The 2025 first place team will have the opportunity to represent Maryland at the National finals in Atlanta, Georgia on June 1 and 2, 2025.