Future Business Leaders of America
Twelve role play events, where a test picks the finalists and seven minutes with the judges picks the winners.
What it is
FBLA, Future Business Leaders of America, runs competitive events across business, finance, technology and leadership. MCBA prepares members for its role play events: twelve of them, from Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Business Management to Banking & Financial Systems, Customer Service and Network Design.
A role play event has two halves. First a 100-question objective test, taken online in 50 minutes, decides who reaches the final. The final is the role play: twenty minutes to prepare a problem you have never seen, with two notecards and nothing else, then seven minutes presenting to judges who ask their questions as you go. Only the role play decides the winners; the test breaks ties.
Competitors qualify through their state's leadership conference for the National Leadership Conference, held each summer, where state qualifiers meet chapters from across the country.
The format, at a glance.
- Events
- Twelve role play events, most for an individual or a team of up to three
- Qualifying
- A 100-question objective test in 50 minutes
- Final
- 20 minutes to prepare, then 7 minutes with the judges
- Scored on
- The event's rating sheet, 100 points
- Path
- The state leadership conference, then the National Leadership Conference
How MCBA prepares you
Every member gets the prep below inside the Competition Academy, built around this competition rather than adapted from a generic business course.
Every role play event, concept by concept
An FBLA section in the Academy with all twelve events. Each event's knowledge areas are taught as concepts in plain language, with how a strong competitor uses each one in front of a judge, and a flashcard deck of its terms.
What the FBLA section coversPractice tests weighted like the real one
Two practice tests per event, weighted across the knowledge areas the way FBLA's own test is, and every wrong answer points to the concept that explains it.
Role play practice with an AI judge
MCBA's own role plays on the real clock: twenty minutes to prepare, seven to present out loud. The AI Role Play Judge asks follow-up questions from what you said, then rates you line by line on the event's rating sheet, with the evidence.
How the AI Role Play Judge worksA study plan from what you missed
The concepts a role play or a practice test shows you missed become the next thing to study, so the hours before the conference go where they count.
Where it sits in the season. Regional rounds, where a state holds them, come in the winter; the state leadership conference is in the spring, and the National Leadership Conference in the summer. See the full season timeline.
Also worth a look
Prep for FBLA starts the day you join
Members get the study guides, practice exams, flashcards, and mock rounds for FBLA, plus a chapter to compete with.