University Admission Grades and Academic Performance of Students in University Course Examinations: A Study of Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between the admission cut-off grades and university course examination grades obtained between two sets of students at the Delta State University, Abraka. The two groups sampled were students reading Counselling Psychology in the Faculty of Education and those reading Pure Psychology in the Faculty of the Social Sciences. The intention was to find out whether the set of students admitted with higher admission grades also performed better in university courses than those admitted with lower admission grade. The purpose was for the research to have basis for making suggestions and recommendations about the relevance of using different admission grade to place students in different faculties and departments. It was a descriptive study that used a survey design. Data was collected from the scores of the two sets of students in five courses taken in three years. The result indicated that the higher admission cut-off grades did not influence positively the performance of students in university course examinations. The researcher recommended among others that admission score into the different faculties and departments may not be different but be based also on the interest of students to read particular courses, and comparable conditions of service for workers.

DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2016.v6n1p59