Factors that affect the academic performance in Makerere University

Abstract

This study was conducted at the School of Statistics and Planning, Makerere University. The objective of the study was to assess admission points, parent’s socio-economic status and academic performance of students from the School of Statistics and Planning. The research methodology for the study was descriptive cross-sectional research design. The sample size was 150 students and stratified sampling technique was applied in selecting the respondents who were included in the sample. The researcher used questionnaires to collect data and data was analyzed SPSS version 20.Study findings also indicated that the admission criteria has no significant influence on a student’s academic performance that is p-value (0.673) greater than 0.05. The study results indicated that family income has a significant influence on academic performance since the significance value (0.004) was less than the usual critical value of 0.05. The study results also revealed that parent’s occupation has a significant influence on student’s academic performance since the significance value (0.030) was less than the usual critical value of 0.05. The study results indicated that most of the respondents had their former schools located in urban areas and since the significance value (0.002) was less than the usual critical value of 0.05, it revealed that former school location significantly affects the student’s academic performance. Study findings revealed that on average, the number of points which were obtained at A’ level was 14.62 points with its mean deviating from the true value of points at 2.495 and since the significance value (0.000) was less than the usual critical value of 0.05 which revealed that points obtained at A’ level has a significant impact on student’s academic performance at the school of statistics and planning. The study concluded that admission points do not affect one’s academic performance but socio-economic status of parents and former school factors do at the school of statistics and planning. The study recommended that people with good grades in high school should be admitted in order to increase academic performance of students at the school of statistics and planning