High failure rates at tertiary institutions result in unacceptable levels of attrition,
reduced graduate throughput and increased cost of training a nation’s labour
force. It is imperative that diagnostic studies are carried out to identify the major
factors that are associated with suboptimal academic performance with a view of
instituting corrective measures. This study was, therefore, designed to identify and
analyse some determinants of academic performance (as measured by coursework
exam grades) in an introductory biochemistry (AGRI 1013) course plagued
by chronic high failure rates. The course is offered to first year undergraduate
students in the Faculty of Science and Agriculture at the University of the West
Indies, St. Augustine campus. A survey instrument was administered to a random
sample of 66 registered students of AGRI 1013 (representing a 40% sampling
fraction) to generate data on demographics (gender and age), learning preference,
and entry qualifications. The effect of learning preference, age, gender, and entry
qualifications on academic performance (measured as the final coursework mark
obtained) was determined. Relationships/associations between gender and
learning styles, gender and entry qualifications, age and learning preferences, and
age and entry qualifications were analyzed using Pearson’s chi-square test. There
were significant (P < 0.05) associations between entry qualifications and both
gender and age. However, since entry qualifications did not significantly (P >
0.05) affect academic performance, this association should be of limited concern.
None of the investigated factors significantly affected academic performance.
This observation could be a consequence of an impressive performance in the
coursework exams by a large proportion of students resulting in less variation
in the recorded grades. Learning preferences were found to be independent of
both the age and gender of students. It was concluded that more determinants
of academic performance need to be investigated and that students who are
admitted based on a diploma in agriculture may need a remedial course given
that their coursework grades, though statistically insignificant were consistently
lower than that of the other students.