2.2 Introduction

This case contains 11 challenges related to college life ranging from weighting assignment scores used in grade calculations to understanding credit card terms.

Description of Challenges

• Credit Card Challenge: A student may choose to use a credit card to pay some expenses while in college. What is the total cost of different strategies for paying off that credit card debt?

• Phone Bill Challenge: Analyze a phone bill that charges one rate for the first 30 minutes and another rate for each additional minute.

• Buy vs. Lease: Analyze the costs of buying versus leasing a new car.

• Gradebook Analysis: This challenge has the student create a gradebook with different assessments having different weights. It shows the student how to answer questions like, “What do I need on the final exam to get an A in the course?” or “What will be my grade in the course if I score xx on the final exam?”

• List of Names: You will be given a list of names in most any order. You are to sort them in order of last name, then first name.

• Future Dates: Use the DATE functions within Excel to calculate dates of future events and the days of the week on which they may fall.

• Project Dates: Use date functions to calculate the number of day in a project.

  This challenge also demonstrates how the details of a task can be turned off.

• Experiment Times: Use the TIME functions within Excel to calculate elapsed times when making experimental observations. Chart these times as well.

• Salary by Major: Use statistical functions to analyze survey results.

• Where to Work: Use calculations, VLOOKUP, and data validation to analyze different salaries and buying power based on different states.

• To/From School: Use calculations, one-way data tables, and a line chart to analyze the most cost-efficient ways to travel from home to school using a car or bus.