Academic achievement in first‐year Portuguese college students: The role of academic preparation and learning strategies

Abstract

This paper analyses the role of academic preparation and learning strategies in the prediction of first-year Portuguese college students' academic achievement, considering students' sex and academic field attended. A sample of 445 first-year college students (68.5% female) from the University of Minho (25.8% enrolled in economics, 35.3% in science/technology, and 38.9% in humanities degrees) participated in the study. Students answered a questionnaire on learning strategies in the classroom at the end of the first semester, which consisted of 44 items organized in five dimensions: comprehensive approach, surface approach, personal competency perceptions, intrinsic motivation, and organization of study activities. Academic achievement (grade point average at the end of first year) and academic preparation (students' higher education access mark) were obtained through the academic records of the university. Results showed that academic preparation was the strongest predictor of first-year academic achievement, and only marginal additional variance was explained by learning strategies as assessed by the self-reported questionnaire. There were sex and academic field differences, but these variables do not seem strong enough to affect the results, although the different percentages of variance captured by each model and the different weights associated to higher education access mark, stimulate the use of these and/or other personal and contextual variables when analysing the phenomenon.

The Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ) for Use with Spanish Students

“…The transition can be difficult for many students as they face the new challenges of making personal, academic and social adjustments to the new environment. During the first year at college, students are often confronted with a variety of new demands and changes such as the need to develop learning habits for the new academic environment, coping with new evaluation systems, managing finances, developing new patterns of more mature interpersonal relationships with family members, teachers and classmates, and developing a vocational identity in which processes of decision making, exploration, and commitment are particularly important (astin, 1993;tinto, 1996;Parker, summerfeldt, hogan, & Majeski, 2004;smith & renk, 2007;soares, guisande, almeida, & Páramo, 2009). there is evidence that the transition to college may be a stressful experience for many first-year students. Several studies have demonstrated that more than half of the students entering higher education experience difficulties in the educational transition (Buote, Pancer, & Pratt, 2007), with a high incidence of academic problems (Wintre, Bowers, gordner, & lange, 2006), emotional problems such as isolation, loneliness, stress and depression (Neto & Barros, 2000;tao, et al, 2000;Vazsonyi & Belliston, 2006), problems in relationships with parents and classmates (Hoffman & Weiss, 1987;Wintre & Yaffe, 2000), problems associated with the consumption of alcohol and other psychoactive substances (caamaño-isorna, corral, Parada, & cadaveira, 2008), and an increase in psychopathological behavior (council for the advancement of standards in higher education, 2006).…”

Factores de contexto, entrada y proceso asociados al rendimiento en Matemática: un estudio multinivel/Factors of background, input and process associated with Mathematics performance: A Multilevel analyses

“…Estos hallazgos son consecuentes con investigaciones similares tales como: número de cursos matriculados (Castaño et al, 2008;Guillén & Chinchilla, 2005), tipo de colegio (Vélez & Roa, 2005), nota de Matemática del examen de admisión (Soares et al, 2008), asistencia a lecciones (Guillén & Chinchilla, 2007) y tiempo dedicado al estudio (Vargas, 2010).…”

“…Entre los antecedentes académicos, tanto el tipo de colegio (Vélez & Roa, 2005) como las calificaciones de secundaria (Contreras, Gallegos & Meneses, 2009;Soares, Guisande, Almeida & Páramo, 2008;Vargas, 2010), la puntuación de un examen de admisión (Soares et al, 2008), la asistencia y participación de los y las estudiantes en clase (Guillén & Chinchilla, 2007) y las dificultades en Matemática y la memorización (Alfaro, 2010) se han asociado al rendimiento académico. Además, existen evidencias de una relación con el constructo de inteligencia fluida, medida con el test de Cattell, hábitos de estudio y la actitud negativa hacia la Matemática (Vargas, 2010).…”

Estrategias de aprendizaje en estudiantes universitarios de nuevo ingreso y su relación con la vía de acceso a la universidad

“…En las últimas dos décadas se han estudiado las relaciones entre algunas de estas variables con el rendimiento académico. Así, se ha evidenciado que los estudiantes universitarios que llevan a cabo un mayor y mejor uso de las estrategias de aprendizaje presentan también un mayor rendimiento académico (Juárez et al, 2016;Bahamón et al, 2013;Gargallo et al, 2012;Yip, 2012;Gargallo et al, 2009;Soares et al, 2009;Gargallo et al, 2007-B;Diset y Marthinsen, 2003). Por tanto, las estrategias de aprendizaje están, pues, directamente relacionadas con la calidad del aprendizaje del estudiante, ya que permiten identificar y diagnosticar las causas del bajo o alto rendimiento académico (Beltrán, 2003).…”