Factors that Affect the Academic Performance of Pharmacy Students at the University of Costa Rica

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Introduction: in the complex process of teaching and learning, there are are factors from different sources that can affect the academic performance of students. Objective: to find the factors that affect the academic performance of Pharmacy students at the University of Costa Rica (UCR). Methodology: In 2017, a data collection instrument was designed with 164 items, organized in the following 5 sections: aspects that affect academic performance before entering university (8 items), aspects in the first years (37 items), aspects in later years (86 items), socioeconomic-geographical aspects (25 items) and general aspects (8 items). The students participated voluntarily and for each element included in the instrument, the students selected if that element affected the academic performance in a positive or negative way. The data was handled confidentially and the respective statistical analyzes were carried out. Results: 307 students participated in the study; most of the second and third level of the curriculum; 86% had between 1 and 6 years of studies; most entered and maintain a weighted average that is acceptable; most only study Pharmacy; the largest amount comes from public schools, 67% comes from the urban area; 50% have not failed courses or have only failed between 1 and 4 courses, it was found that the higher the number of non-approved courses, the students extend the time in the curriculum and there was a correlation between the opinion of the factors that affect the academic performance and the number of years in the studies. Conclusions: the factors that affect academic performance are related to institutional, personal and social aspects; some occur in stages prior to university admission, during the first years or at any other time later.