Complete the Mandatory Orientation (& sign up on Remind) by January 17thst
Course Competency and your Grade
This course is based on the Course Competency Model. This means if you show you are "competent" in the material you don't have to go through all the "details" of the course if you can learn the material faster or already know it. If you take the competency route for a unit, you don't have to do any MEL (MyEconLab) assignments for that unit (all four chapters of it) nor the unit exam. You only take the Challenge (Competency) Exam for the unit instead. Caveat: have to get at least 80% on the challenge exam, else it does not count at all, and you have to complete all MEL assignments and the regular unit exam for that unit (on time). You can show competency for a single unit of the course, for several units, or for the whole course. The exception is UNIT 4, where you need to also turn in the Course Analysis assignments.
Additionally, any Competency exam can be used to replace any of your UNIT Exams or the Final Exam.
The Course Challenge Exam is offered to any student who wants to test if (s)he can pass the course without working through all the Pearson MyEconLab assignments and taking all the UNIT Exams. If you make 80% or better on the Course Challenge Exam you will have passed the course and need to do nothing more in it. Anyone who can do this will get a letter grade of A or B (depending on the percentage on the exam grade). The only prerequisite for taking the Course Challenge Exam is to have completed the Mandatory Orientation Quiz with sufficient points.
Notes on Course Competency
Especially if you are already familiar with the material and are self-motivated, a Course or Unit Challenge exam can work for you. If you attempt it and do not make 80% no harm is done. You can still take the regular course without any penalty if you complete the assignments on time.
If you have taken a Microeconomics class before, I recommend you attempt the UNIT 1 Challenge exam. It saves you the time to go through all the exercises on the first four chapters since this material very likely was covered in your microeconomics class already.
Last but not least: If you intend to take any challenge exam, it is a good idea to check in with me in advance, also to talk about how to best prepare for it. You only have one attempt at each challenge exam. So it is important to be well prepared when you attempt it.