Economics & Personal Finance / Branching simulation
First Year Forward
Guide a fictional young adult through twelve monthly decisions. A cheap choice now can carry a cost later.
Four levels · Twelve consequential decisions · Included with educator membership.
First Year Forward
Guide a fictional young adult through twelve monthly decisions. A cheap choice now can carry a cost later.
Learning goals, teacher guide & model limits
Goal: Compare cash flow, reserves, debt exposure, and future options over time; explain opportunity costs.
Supporting course connections: EPF.MCM.1.1: spending plans · EPF.MCM.1.2: needs and available resources. These identify practice opportunities, not full standards coverage, guaranteed learning gains, or official AP endorsement. Exact local pacing may differ.
- Getting established: consult three authored NPC guides, complete the practical mission, and write a claim, evidence-based explanation, and limitation.
- An uneven paycheck: consult three authored NPC guides, complete the practical mission, and write a claim, evidence-based explanation, and limitation.
- Unexpected expenses: consult three authored NPC guides, complete the practical mission, and write a claim, evidence-based explanation, and limitation.
- Your next move: consult three authored NPC guides, complete the practical mission, and write a claim, evidence-based explanation, and limitation.
Use approximately one session per level, with time for discussion and revision. Actual playing and writing time has not been measured with students. Students can complete the mechanical actions more quickly; the explanation and comparison are part of the task.
Resources are model indices, not dollars, credit scores, investment returns, or predictions. No real financial information is requested.
Completion checks verify practical requirements and minimum writing length. They do not grade the argument. Review the portfolio for accurate concepts, specific evidence, reasoning, and limits. Downloads do not submit automatically to Google Classroom. A browser save is editable and must not be used as a verified assessment result.
Progress saves locally when available. Students can export and import a campaign file. On shared computers, export and then clear the campaign. No real financial, medical, political-preference, or identifying student information is required.
Compare two campaigns after exporting the first. Ask students to trace an early decision, a delayed effect, a later option, and the ending. The 0–100 resource indices and ending thresholds are invented teaching models. A desirable ending is not evidence that a political or personal viewpoint is correct.