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Check the rules (2009 National Economics Challenge)

1. GENERAL STRUCTURE
1. Team Divisions
   1. There will be two divisions: David Ricardo and Adam Smith.
   2. The David Ricardo division includes teams of students enrolled in one-semester (or less) general economics courses or courses which include introductory economic concepts (social studies, business, personal finance, etc.). The course must be taught by a secondary teacher.
   3. The Adam Smith division includes teams of students enrolled in Advanced Placement (AP Micro, AP Macro, or AP Micro and Macro), International Baccalaureate (pre-IB and IB), honors, two-semester, or any other advanced courses in economics (including courses taught by a secondary teacher where students earn college credit). The course must be taught by a secondary teacher.
   4. Any team consisting of one or more students enrolled in a course listed in A.1.c. must play in the Adam Smith division.
   5. Teams shall only compete against other teams in their own division.
2. Team Composition
   1. Teams shall be comprised of four (4) members.
   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, private, or home-based high school.
   4. A school which qualifies for regional and/or national competition may reconstitute the members of its team prior to the competition. Students must, however, meet the general student eligibility conditions in A.3., as well as, the eligibility conditions for the division in which the school qualified (see A.1.).
3. Student Eligibility
   1. Students must be enrolled for credit in a qualifying high school course (see A.1.b and A.1.c.) at some time during the 2008-2009 academic year.
   2. Students who have taken or are taking economics courses for college credit from a post-secondary instructor are not eligible to compete.
   3. Students who have taken more than one semester of economics at any time must compete in the Adam Smith division. In particular, students who are in their second semester of any economics course must compete in the Adam Smith division.
   4. No student is permitted to compete in the David Ricardo division more than one year. Any returning student who has already participated in the National Economics Challenge (at the state-level or higher) must compete in the Adam Smith division in subsequent years, regardless of previous or current coursework.
   5. Home-schooled students must compete in the Adam Smith division.
   6. Students who are not enrolled in courses described in Section 1.a-b during the 2008-2009 year, may participate on a team if coached by a school-sanctioned teacher if they do not violate eligibility requirements of Section 3.b.
2. CONTEST FORMAT
   1. There will be three preliminary rounds of competition (Rounds I-III).
      1. Rounds I-III will be 20-minute rounds with 15 five-option, multiple-choice questions in each round.
      2. In Rounds I and II of in-person national, regional and state contests, each member competes individually and the team score in each round is the sum of the top three individual scores.
      3. In the third round of in-person national, regional and state contests, members compete as a team and submit one answer sheet.
      4. Each division shall have its own set of tests for these rounds.
   2. Scoring in Rounds I-III is based on the following system: +10 points for each correct response, -5 points for each incorrect response, and 0 points for no response (or a response of "I don’t know" in an online contest).
   3. The score on the Round III in-person test will be multiplied by three so that this round is weighted equally with each of the first two rounds.
   4. The content covered in Rounds I through III is as follows: Round I - Microeconomics; Round II - Macroeconomics; Round III – International Economics and Current Events.
   5. The two highest scoring teams in each division after Rounds I-III advance to Round IV.
      First tie-breaker for in-person contests: team score in Round III, second tie-breaker: total team score in Rounds I and II counting the scores of all four team members (not just the top three), final tie-breaker: quiz-bowl competition tie-breaker (see B.7.b.).
   6. Round IV of in-person contests has a quiz-bowl format covering all topics in economics.
      1. One student on each team is designated as the spokesperson for that team. Only responses from the designated spokesperson are considered official.
      2. One point is awarded for each question answered correctly by a team.
      3. Team members may buzz in at any time a question is being read, however, should they buzz in before the entire question has been read, they will have to answer based solely on the information they have heard up to that point.
      4. Once a team member has buzzed in, the team has 15 seconds to consult and have a response given by its spokesperson.
      5. If an incorrect response is given, the other team will have the opportunity to hear the entire question and then have 15 seconds to respond.
      6. Teams found to be “blitzing” by providing an excessive amount of information in response to a question will have their answer declared incorrect.
   7. Round IV is over as soon as one team leads by more points than there are questions remaining.
      1. A maximum of 30 questions will be asked.
      2. In the event of a tie after 30 questions, the first team to correctly answer a tie-breaking question will be declared the winner.
   8. Use of Support Materials
      1. The use of books, notes, calculators or other support materials is not allowed during the competition.
      2. Students will be provided a pencil and a piece of scratch paper in all rounds.

Copyright © 2009 Council for Economic Education. All rights reserved.