In 2010, DECA made significant changes to the organization and structure of its competitive events program to better align events with the national MBA standards. Over a period of several years, DECA will introduce new events, phase out others, and bring all events into closer alignment with the states' Career Clusters initiative.
Beginning with the 2010 competitive event program, DECA transitioned to a new model for written exams. Only five different exams are used at each level of competition (district, state, and national). Each exam addresses the performance indicators common to the Business Administration core and, as appropriate to each of the clusters of interest:
- Finance
- Hospitality/Tourism
- Management/Administration
- Marketing
Also started in the spring of 2010, a series of events targeted at first year DECA members. This "Principles" series includes a comprehensive written exam based on the Business Administration core, along with an interview-style role play.
Additional exams:
For some states we create additional exams to specific specifications provided by the state DECA advisor. For more detailed information on these exams, please contact the advisor directly. Many states use one or both of two additional exams that are not used by DECA at the national level:
- Economics Applications in Business. This exam is based on the economics instructional area (from within the BA core) across all
curriculum planning levels. There is a total of 39 economics performance indicators, plus
BL:001, BL:003, and FI:106. Therefore, there are 2 or 3 items for each.
- Math Applications in Business. This exam is very general. It includes a wide range of computational math problems and math-based
questions drawn from a wide range of performance indicators. These indicators are pulled from the BA core and from the cluster cores across all six curriculum planning levels. Items represent the math “component” of performance indicators that are not necessarily specific to a math problem.
MBA Research continues to provide competitive event exams for state and national DECA use in the actual competitive events program. In addition, MBA Research offers sample exams in the revised format for use in helping students gain a better understanding of the nature of the competitive events and to test their knowledge of specific standards included in the competitive events program.
Click here for more detailed info on exams. The five basic exams can be purchased through DECA (www.DECA.org).