Perceived Difficult Topics and Senior Secondary School Students’ Academic Achievement in Economics in Lagos State

Abstract

The study investigated the influence of perceived difficult topics by senior secondary school students and how this perception affects their academic achievement in Economics in Lagos State Education District V, in Nigeria. A total of three hundred and seventy-seven (377) students were selected for the study through simple random sampling technique. One research question and two hypotheses were raised and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings revealed that greatest percentage of the students chose calculations and statistics as the most difficult aspect of Economics with an overall highest 27.4% and the lowest in ranking of difficulty is explanation of terms 8.3%. Also, findings showed that perceived difficult topics in Economics has positively strong significant impact on academic achievement in Economics (ꞵ1 = 0.65; p<0.05). Among the recommendations made in line with the findings of this study is that students should be taught Economics with activity-based methods to improve their academic achievement in the subject.