Center for Distance and Independent Study
Personal Finance, One Half Unit

Grades

Your final grade will be based on the number of points you earn on submitted work and exams. The available points are distributed as follows:

Submitted Work

The work you will submit for this course consists of progress evaluations that are scored instantaneously, as well as progress evaluation assignments that will be submitted to your course instructor for grading. You may use any assigned readings, your notes, and other course-related materials to complete these assignments. The points you earn on your submitted work count toward your final course grade.

After your work has been scored, you will receive a report that provides individualized feedback and/or comments on your work. Look carefully at what you missed and read any corresponding feedback. Then study the lesson materials to make certain that you can accomplish the associated learning objectives.

Each lesson provides step-by-step instructions on how to submit your work. Be sure to check submitted work carefully for errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation, as they may result in points being deducted.

Progress Evaluations

Progress evaluations appear after most of the lessons. Progress evaluations are designed to test your knowledge of the material presented in the lessons, and the points earned count toward your final grade. The table below summarizes the points available.

Career Profiles

You will complete one Career Profile each for Lessons 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7. You will submit groups of them as components of Progress Evaluations 2 and 8, as shown in the table below. Each Career Profile is worth 5 points and asks you to research a certain career in order to learn more about its duties, eligibility requirements, and compensation.

• In the Career Profiles for Lessons 1, 2, and 3, you may select any career you wish.
• In the Career Profiles for Lessons 4, 6, and 7, you must select a career related to the topic of the lesson. Contact the instructor if you have questions about whether a career matches the lesson topic.

When you have completed a Career Profile, save it to a secure location on your computer or to a portable drive.

• Submit your Career Profiles for Lessons 1 and 2 with Progress Evaluation 2 (worth 5 points each; 10 points total).
• Submit your Career Profiles for Lessons 3, 4, 6, and 7 with Progress Evaluation 8 (worth 5 points each; 20 points total).

Exams

You are required to take two (2) formal, supervised exams for this course: a midterm and a final.

You may use a small handheld calculator when taking these exams. However, you may not use any textbook(s), commentary, notes, or other outside resources during an exam unless otherwise noted below.

Minimum Exam Points

In order to pass the course, you must earn a minimum of 270 points (60 percent) on the midterm and finals exams combined.

Test-Taking Strategies

When it comes to preparing for the examinations, find a pattern or an approach that works for you. If it works, stick with the approach and make it a habit! Repetition and review are good because they help us fit the pieces into the whole and better understand the concept or material. Here is a summary of the “whole-part-whole” approach when studying for exams:

1. As you complete each lesson, review often. This will actually lessen the time that you must study for an exam, because you will already understand the subject matter. It also helps put the pieces together. Any time you sit down to study, review the lessons you have completed, paying special attention to the purpose, objectives, and conclusion sections. Also review the vocabulary words. Try to recite information presented in list form (such as the decision-making process in Lesson 1 or the steps for developing a positive self-esteem in Lesson 2).
2. Get a good night’s rest before taking the exam.
3. Eat a nutritious breakfast on the morning of the exam. Do not load up on foods with high sugar or fructose!Try to take a brisk walk or do some form of light aerobic exercise before the exam begins.
4. After you enter the exam room, close your eyes, take a deep breath, relax, and begin!
5. Read directions carefully. Then read each question carefully. Try to answer multiple-choice questions in your own words before reading the choices. Then read all the possibilities. Do not assume that the first one that sounds familiar is correct! Choose the best response.
6. When we read exam questions, sometimes we mentally leave out important words (all, none, or not, for instance) that can change the entire meaning of a statement or question. Reading questions twice can help prevent this from happening.
7. Concentrate on each word in true/false questions to prevent misreading a statement. Read the entire statement twice. Remember that a single word can create a false statement.
8. As you go through the exam, answer the questions you know for certain. Don’t get stuck on one question and spend a lot of time on it. Jot down the number of the question(s) you do not answer. Once you have completed the ones about which you are confident, go back to those that require more thought.
9. Keep in mind when taking a test that a later question might help you answer a previous one. Some instructors use the tactic to determine whether students are alert when taking a test and whether they put all the pieces together.
10. If you have time, double-check the questions to make sure that you recorded your answers correctly.
11. Double-check the grading and the points. On occasion, teachers and machines do make mistakes. ☺

Also, remember these standard procedures: