The Influence of University Entrance Examination Results, Gender and Field of Study on Semester Cumulative Grade-point Averages (CGPAs) of First Year Students: The Case of Raya University

We detail how academic advisors at two land grand universities benefit from the identification of factors related to poor academic performance of first-year students. We used a multivariate statistical model and data from one institution to identify characteristics of students at-risk of earning low grade point averages. We showed through a second application of the statistical model that first-year dropout was directly related to grade point average.

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Learning Skills Workshops Supporting First-Year Courses

Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching ◽

10.22329/celt.v10i0.4731 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 10 ◽

pp. 119-128

Author(s):

Sheilagh Grills

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

Student Services ◽

Grade Point Averages ◽

First Year ◽

Negative Consequences ◽

Learning Skills ◽

First Year Students ◽

Grade Point ◽

Introductory Course ◽

Course Grades

Student Services support, including learning skills assistance, can be integral in empowering learners. First-year students are expected to be self-directed in their learning, yet may have neither been challenged nor experienced negative consequences for a lack of perseverance. Academic skills professionals can be partners with teaching faculty in student success by helping to build transferable learning skills, especially for high-fail introductory courses. In this paper, I report on supplementary workshops developed to target fundamental skills with course-specific examples. This partnership included incentivizing academic support with both carrots and sticks; instructors in introductory biology strongly urged students receiving D grades or below on the first test to approach Student Services for support, while sociology faculty incorporated workshop attendance into the introductory course with participation grades. Following such incentivizing of learning skills, workshop attendance increased by 45%. In both courses, first test scores and high school averages for students attending workshops did not differ from students not attending workshops. However, students who attended learning skills workshops had significantly higher course grades, persistence, sessional grade point averages (GPAs), and cumulative GPAs than students not attending workshops. Controlling for high school average, each learning skills workshop attended was associated with a 0.11 to 0.27 increase in sessional GPA on a 4.3 point scale.

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Academic Achievement and Demographics of International Undergraduates

Exploring the Social and Academic Experiences of International Students in Higher Education Institutions - Advances in Higher Education and Professional Development ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-9749-2.ch013 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 233-259

Author(s):

Dulce Amor L. Dorado ◽

Barry Fass-Holmes

Keyword(s):

Academic Achievement ◽

Community College ◽

West Coast ◽

Native Language ◽

Public University ◽

Grade Point Averages ◽

First Year ◽

Grade Point ◽

Academic Standing ◽

First Time

Are international undergraduates whose native language is not English less prepared to succeed academically at an American four-year institution after transferring from an American community college than ones who are first-time freshmen (NFRS) or exchange visitors (EAPR)? This question's answer was no at an American West Coast public university where five cohorts of international transfer undergraduates (TRAN) earned mean first-year grade point averages (GPA) between B- and B. Less than 12% of these students earned GPAs below C, and less than 15% were in bad academic standing (probation, subject to disqualification, or dismissed). In comparison, five parallel cohorts of NFRS and EAPR earned mean first-year GPAs averaging between B and B+ to A-. Less than 10% earned GPAs below C or were in bad academic standing. Thus, a minority of this university's international undergraduates struggled academically regardless of whether they were TRAN, NFRS, or EAPR.

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A Social-Belonging Intervention Benefits Higher Weight Students’ Weight Stability and Academic Achievement

Social Psychological and Personality Science ◽

10.1177/1948550620959236 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 194855062095923

Author(s):

Christine Logel ◽

Joel M. Le Forestier ◽

Eben B. Witherspoon ◽

Omid Fotuhi

Keyword(s):

College Transition ◽

Well Being ◽

Grade Point Averages ◽

First Year ◽

Psychological Interventions ◽

Healthy Weight ◽

Intervention Trial ◽

Grade Point ◽

Social Belonging ◽

Weight Stability

Psychological interventions can narrow college achievement gaps between students from nonstigmatized and stigmatized groups. However, no intervention we know of has investigated effects for one highly stigmatized group: people of higher bodyweights. We analyzed data from a prematriculation social-belonging intervention trial at 22 colleges, which conveyed that adversity in the college transition is normative, temporary, and nondiagnostic of lack of belonging. Nine months postintervention, higher weight participants in a standard belonging treatment had higher first-year grade point averages (GPAs) than controls and maintained more stable weights, an indicator of physical well-being. Effects of a belonging treatment customized to specific colleges were directionally similar but nonsignificant. Exploratory analyses revealed that effects did not differ by race and that weight effects were driven by women. Together, results show that higher weight students contend with belonging concerns that contribute to a weight gap in GPA, but belonging interventions can raise GPA and promote healthy weight stability.

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Greeks and Grades: The First-Year Experience

NASPA Journal ◽

10.2202/0027-6014.1571 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 43 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Robert DeBard ◽

Tony Lake ◽

Ron S Binder

Keyword(s):

Grade Point Averages ◽

First Year Experience ◽

First Year ◽

New Members ◽

Grade Point ◽

Greek Organizations ◽

Midwestern University ◽

Actual Grade

After reviewing institutional records for more than 3,000 students, the authors consider how new members of Greek organizations at a Midwestern university performed academically when compared to non-Greeks, in terms of their predicted versus actual grade point averages and whether joining during the first or second semester made a difference in their performance. Implications for improving the first-year experience of Greek members are explored.

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Combining Academic Advising with a Freshman Orientation Course in an Integrated Baccalaureate–Medical Degree Program: Evaluation of the System

NACADA Journal ◽

10.12930/0271-9517-20.2.16 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 20 (2) ◽

pp. 16-20 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Dani L. McBeth ◽

Susan M. Richardson ◽

Louis L. Cregler ◽

Jodie Meyer

Keyword(s):

Academic Advising ◽

Degree Program ◽

Grade Point Averages ◽

First Year ◽

Freshman Seminar ◽

Freshman Orientation ◽

Grade Point ◽

Medical Degree ◽

Orientation Course ◽

Students First

The effectiveness of an advising system that combines a freshman seminar course taught by advisors for the students that they advise in a combined baccalaureate–medical degree program was analyzed. Students reported satisfaction with the seminar course, and more than 80% felt that they were more likely to seek out their advisor as a result of participating in this course. After the new advising system was implemented, the number of students receiving an A or B in a required biology course increased from nearly 70% to approximately 80%. In addition, students' first year grade-point averages increased modestly.

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Do First-Year College Students' Expectations Align with their First-Year Experiences?

NASPA Journal ◽

10.2202/0027-6014.1470 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 42 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Joshua S. Smith ◽

Ellen C Wertlieb

Keyword(s):

College Students ◽

Transition To College ◽

First Year ◽

Academic Expectations ◽

Social Expectations ◽

First Year Students ◽

Grade Point ◽

First Year College ◽

First Year College Students ◽

First Year Experiences

First-year college students expectations about "what college is like" do not always align with their actual experiences. This study examined 31 first-year students social and academic expectations and compared those expectations with students' experiences at the middle and end of their first year of college. Paired t tests revealed that students' academic and social expectations did not align with their first-year experiences. Academic and social expectations/experiences were not statistically significant predictors of first-year academic achievement. However, students with unrealistic high social or academic expectations had lower first-year grade point averages (GPAs) than students with average or below-average expectations. Recommendations for increasing high school and college collaboration to assist students with the transition to college are included.

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First semester academic performance: The importance of early indicators of non-engagement

Student Success ◽

10.5204/ssj.v9i4.652 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 1-12 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Jacques Van der Meer ◽

Stephen Scott ◽

Keryn Pratt

Keyword(s):

Academic Performance ◽

Student Success ◽

Grade Point Average ◽

First Year ◽

First Year Students ◽

Grade Point ◽

Retention Strategy ◽

First Semester ◽

Efficiency And Effectiveness ◽

The University

Success, progression and retention of students are goals of many university strategic directions and policies. For many decades it has been recognised that the greatest focus in any retention strategy should be on first-year students. University of Otago too has goals around student success. The Strategic Plan of the institution also identified that in the context of a fiscally constrained environment, all of our activities and processes need to be assessed for efficiency and effectiveness. To this end, a pilot was undertaken in one area of the university to identify possible indicators of first-year students’ non-engagement in the first semester and their possible impact on the first semester academic performance. The findings suggest that there are indeed some indicators that predict Grade Point Average at the end of the first semester.

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Performance of FCAE diploma holders at USP

The South Pacific Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences ◽

10.1071/sp02012 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

pp. 62 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

U J Dixit ◽

V U Dixit ◽

M V Reddy

Keyword(s):

Statistical Analysis ◽

South Pacific ◽

Grade Point Averages ◽

First Year ◽

The South ◽

Similar Nature ◽

Grade Point ◽

Advanced Education ◽

Study Programme ◽

The University

The University of the South Pacific (USP is currently attracting many students who have completed a Diploma at the Fiji College of Advanced Education (FCAE) into its study programmes. These students are not required to do certain courses, mostly those at the first year level, as they had done courses of a similar nature at FCAE and hence these are cross-credited towards their study programme as USP. In order to ensure that the granting of cross-credits for these FCAE courses is justified, USP needs to study the performance of these students. In this paper, we have carried out a statistical analysis using the Cumulative Grade Point Averages (CGPA) of all 67 such students. Results of the analysis indicate that the performance of these students justifies the granting of cross-credits.

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