From Z score to semester great point average: An analysis.

Abstract

The Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ruhuna (FAUR) recently re-structured its B.Sc (Agriculture) course and the evaluation system. However, the number of absentees in the examinations was unexpectedly high and the academic performance in the examinations was poor. The objectives of this study were I) to understand the variation among the students in terms of their Z scores at the time of their University entrance, 2) to analyze the students' university academic performance in terms of semester grade point average (SGPA) and 3) to understand the relationship between university academic performance and AIL Z scores. The AIL Z scores and the results of the first year first semester examination of eighty students were subjected to analysis. Majority of the students had-entered the university at their third (49%) or second (42%) AIL attempt. Eighty percent of the students had followed Biology stream while only 20% had followed Agriculture stream. Only 1.3% of the students engaged in full time employments while 6.3% students admitted that they followed other courses concurrently with the degree program. The AIL Z score of the students varied from 0.9135 to 1.5950 with a mean ± SD of 1.2956±0.1368. There was no significant difference between the Z scores of male and female students and, between the students' AIL attempts, though the Z score declined by 0.01 point by each attempt. Of the 122 students in the batch, only 36 students (29%) had completed the whole examinatiorf. Absentees due to medical reasons were highest for the subject such as Computer Awareness (46%) and Food Science (32%) and Agric Engineering (20%). The rate of failures was highest for the subjects such as Agric Engineering (10%) and Food Science (9%). Eighteen percent of the students who had done Agriculture for AIL failed the subject of Agric Engineering while only 7% of the students who had done Biology in their A/Ls failed the subject of Agric Engineering. Having reported 42 distinctions, Basic Mathematics and Statistics emerged as the easiest subject to earn a distinction. The, mean SGPA of the batch was 2.4834 ± 0.8648. Though there was a positive relationship between the Z score and the SGPA; SGPA= 0.476 + l.54*Z score, the R2 was as low as 24%%. It was concluded that the rate of absentee for a particular subject reflects the students' perceived judgment regarding the easiness of that subject.