Competitions
A dedicated area for each national competition, built around its real format.
What it is
Each of the three national competitions MCBA prepares for has its own area, and they are not the same shape as each other, because the competitions are not the same shape as each other. A fourth area, Investing, is not a competition at all: it is the portfolio material any of them can draw on.
The Personal Finance Challenge and the Economics Challenge are exam and case events, so their areas lead with practice tests, flashcard decks, study guides, competition tips, and full mock challenges. The Stock Market Game is a portfolio event, so its area leads with lessons, trading simulations, research activities, and a mock competition, and the Investing area beside it carries portfolio construction, case studies, and timed rounds.
Progress is tracked per competition, so you can see at a glance which one is actually ready and which one you have been avoiding. That matters most in the two weeks before a qualifier, when the honest answer is usually not the one you assumed.
In the portal today
- NPFC
- 8 resources · 5 areas
- NEC
- 7 resources · 5 areas
- SMG
- 5 resources · 5 areas
- Investing
- 5 resources · 5 areas
Counted from the content itself, so these numbers move when we add to it.
What is in it
National Personal Finance Challenge
Practice tests, core vocabulary and credit decks, budgeting and investing guides, the case round playbook, and full mock challenges in the qualifier's format.
National Economics Challenge
Micro and macro practice tests, concept and indicator decks, study guides, buzzer strategy for the final round, and a mock competition round.
Stock Market Game
Lessons on how orders work and reading a chart, trading simulations, market mechanics quizzes, research and asset allocation activities, and an SMG mock competition.
Investing
A lesson on building a portfolio for a client, a case study of the 2008 crisis, an asset allocation activity, an investing fundamentals test, and timed portfolio rounds against the clock. Built around no competition in particular.
How to use it
What members who get the most out of this area actually do.
Pick the competition you are actually entering
Members can work all three, but a team that splits attention evenly across three events usually places in none. Choose, then commit the season to it.
Take the diagnostic first
Every area opens with a practice test for a reason. Knowing where you start turns the rest of the season into a plan rather than a guess.
Work the decks between sessions
Recall is the cheap part to train and the expensive part to lack. Cards are built for the ten minutes you would otherwise spend scrolling.
Finish every stretch with a mock
Timed, scored, in format. It is the only honest measure of whether the studying moved anything.
The rest of the Academy
Competitions opens with membership
One membership opens every area of the Academy, not just this one. Join through your chapter or sign up on your own.