Exchange Rates & Banks' Profit Investigation Task

In this activity students will look at exchange rates; primarily the difference between banks’ rates for buying and selling currency, and how this translates to a profit for the bank.
They will first be required to check they can convert currencies using quoted exchange rates, and will need to recognise whether to use a bank’s Buying or Selling rate. They can then work in groups to investigate whether the banks make the same profit on each different currency.

Included are 3 files:
-The main worksheet, a 1 sided A4 document which contains recent exchange rates for various currencies, a worked example, some quick conversion questions (so the tutor can easily check understanding before the final task), and a description of the investigation. The investigation can be done independently or in groups on a large piece of paper.
-Depending on student ability, there is also a document containing a template table which could be distributed to students. This will walk students though the different stages required to work out how much profit the banks make.
-The final document is an answer sheet, which contains the solutions to the main worksheet, in addition to an example of a completed table which finds the percentage profit the banks make.