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High School Accounting

          Accounting classes at Norris consist of two year-long courses:  Beginning Accounting, and Advanced (High School) Accounting.  (Beginning Accounting is scheduled every year; Advanced Accounting is scheduled only when there are enough students to justify the class.)

          Grading.  The high school classes in accounting have a lot of grades recorded each quarter.  Each chapter has three grades (the lab work, an objective quiz, and a problem test).  Then, after every unit (ranging from two to five chapters), a unit problem test (weighted five times) and a unit objective test (weighted five times) are given.  In addition, grades are given for

          The Angel web site has several types of quizzes for practice.  All of the vocabulary for the beginning book is included, along with accounting concepts and debit/credit quizzes.  Each student must take and submit (so I can verify that this requirement has been met) a number of these quizzes each quarter.  (There is a link to the Angel page to the right on this page.)

         The VOCABULARY QUIZ in Angel is 25 questions pulled from the 226 total vocabulary words included in the textbook.  Each quiz is randomly generated--you might get the same question on two consecutive quizzes; you might not.  The final exam in May will include 50 of these vocabulary words--randomly generated.  (So each year will generate a different set of questions from the same pool.)  Each student must take and submit at least one vocabulary quiz each week (and a total of 10 quizzes each quarter) starting with the week including September 1.  You will  notice that spelling matters!  (If a word is misspelled, the computer will score the question as wrong--even if you "knew" the right term.  If a term is misspelled on the final exam, it will be counted wrong.)  The grade for these submissions each quarter is based on 10% for each of the ten quizzes submitted.  It should be an "easy" 100%!

           The CONCEPT QUIZ in Angel is 10 questions randomly pulled from the 30 total concept questions (three questions for each of the ten basic accounting concepts introduced in the beginning class).  Each student must take and submit at least 5 quizzes each quarter.  The grade for these submissions each quarter is based on 20% for each of the five quizzes submitted.  Again, this should be an "easy" 100%!  The final exam in May (and the semester test in December) will include 15 of these concept questions--randomly generated.

          There are three DEBIT/CREDIT QUIZZES in Angel.  During the first semester--starting after Chapter 4 is introduced--each student must take and submit at least 4 multiple-choice quizzes AND 4 fill-in-the-blank quizzes each quarter.  The grade for these submissions each quarter is based on 12.5% for each of the eight total quizzes submitted.  Again, this should be an "easy" grade of 100%.  The semester test in December will include several of these Debit/Credit questions--randomly generated.

          In the second semester, each student must take and submit at least 10 of the quizzes specifically designated as second semester Debit/Credit quizzes.  These quizzes require that the student identify the account classification for each account and the normal balance.  The grade for these submissions during the third and fourth quarter is based on 10% for each of the ten quizzes submitted.  And, once again, this should be an "easy" 100%.  The final exam in May will include several of these Debit/Credit questions--randomly generated, of course.

            In the fourth quarter of the class, a “practice set” is completed.  This project (which is designed around a student’s doing one month’s worth of accounting for a business) counts 50 percent of the fourth quarter grade. 

          The semester test counts 20 percent of the final course grade (40 percent for each quarter grade, 20 percent for the final).

          Extra Credit.  The “challenge” problem at the end of each chapter is never required.  If a student chooses to do the challenge problem, it is scored for extra credit.  The extra credit equals a maximum of five points per “part”—some chapters have seven or more “parts” for the challenge problem.

          Writing.  There is one writing assignment each semester.  In the first semester, students are to describe the accounting cycle.  This paper is due the first Monday in December.

          In the second semester, the topic is to compare and contrast assets, expenses, and costs.  This paper is due the first Monday of May.

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