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FinanceChallenge

Rules

The Rules

The official rules and eligibility governing the National Personal Finance Challenge as established by the Council for Economic Education are clearly defined here: 2025 National Personal Finance Challenge Rules & Eligibility. Please read and review carefully. 

TEAM COMPOSITION:

  1. Teams shall be comprised of three (3) or four (4) members. Competing with only three (3) members, if necessary, is possible and permissible.
  2. Competing with only three (3) members, if necessary, is possible and permissible.
  3. All members of a team must be from the same public school, private school, community organization, club, or afterschool program. This means that students from different schools are eligible to be on the same team if they are all part of one of the groups mentioned in this section. Home-based high school students may join teams of any of the groups mentioned in this section or they may start a team with other home-based high school students if the students reside either in the same county or within a twenty-mile radius of each other.
  4. A team that qualifies for the National Finals may reconstitute the members of its team prior to the competition. However, if a team must reconstitute members, the team must retain a minimum of two original team members. All team members of the reconstituted team must meet the team composition conditions, and students must meet the general student eligibility conditions noted above.
  5. All teams must have a coach, who is an associate (e.g. employee or volunteer) of the team school, organization, or program; and who is fit to accompany students should the team advance to the finals.

TEST PROCEDURE RULES:

Students and teachers are required to abide by the following rules for a successful challenge:

  • Each student must take the test alone; meaning students cannot work as a group.
  • Students may not utilize any outside materials or testing aids (i.e. calculators) during their challenge exam.
  • The teacher/advisor is not to help the students by guiding them or re-phrasing a question.

SCORING:

A team's final score is determined by the sum of the top three (3) individual scores of  its members. If the team consists of four (4) students, the lowest score will not be counted.

  • Students are awarded 10 points for each correct answer. 0 points are awarded for incorrect answers and unanswered questions.
  • The highest individual score possible is 300, while the highest team score possible is 900.

In case of a tie, the first tie breaker for placement is the team with the highest score when counting the scores of all four members will advance. In the event of a continued tie, the second tie breaker for placement is the team with the member who has the highest total individual score will advance, with the subsequent team member scores used if both teams have an equivalent highest individual score. In the event of a continued tie, the final tie breaker will be the team with the least combined time to complete the exam will advance.

Once students have completed testing, teachers may log into their team profile account to  obtain individual student and team scores.

Team scores will populate after all members of a team have completed the test. This may happen at different times.

For a detailed listing of the rules, click here. 

TEAM RANKING AND RESULTS:

  • After the Online Challenge concludes, teachers of the top 8 teams will be notified via email by April 2nd, 2025. These teams will advance to the in-person Massachusetts State Finals on April 15th, 2025 in Boston.
  • The first-place team at the Massachusetts State Finals will also advance to the National Finals and will be contacted by the Council for Economic Education to confirm  their attendance at the National Finals in Atlanta, GA.