Mathematical Performance of Engineering Students in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)

Abstract

Mathematics is a key topic supporting a large number of engineering courses and consequently, it is important for engineering students to hold a strong mathematics knowledge that can keep their motivation for reasonable progress of their engineering programs. In this paper, engineering students’ performance and the factors influencing the performance in mathematics courses at Faculty of Engineering & Built Environment (FKAB), UKM since the intake of academic session 2008/2009 are investigated. The performance is measured by their grade at the end of each semester and as the student progress from year 1 to year 3, their performances are analyzed. The students’ Pre-Test and mathematics engineering courses are used as factors variables in this study. Findings show that the pretest is a good predictor/indicator for the performance of the students in Mathematics Engineering courses. Consequently, the factors influencing the students performance is going be determined. Thus, review and improvement in the teaching and learning process for these courses are needed.