Study habits and academic performance of first year MBBS students

Abstract

Background: The goal of education is advancement in personnel, professional, social, and spiritual life. Objective: To observe the study habits, academic performance, and the relation between these two, among the first-year MBBS students in a medical college from southern part of India. Materials and Methods: For this study, self-assessment questionnaire developed and standardized by Palsane and Sarma was adopted. Palsane and Sarma Study Habits and Inventory (PSSHI), is a self-assessment questionnaire which is consisting of six domains and each domain is having a set of 5 statements and a total of 30 statements. Academic performance of the students was assessed with the marks they have obtained in the part completion test on hematology. Targeted population is first-year MBBS students, who were participated voluntarily in this study. Results: The mean PSSHI scores in students with good study habits and poor habits were 227.70±7.81 and 158.01±7.53 (p = 0.0001), and the mean academic performance scores were 16.15±2.11 and 8.88±1.96 (p = 0.0001), respectively. Correlation coefficient (r) between study habits and academic performance was 0.87 and 0.98 in group I and II, respectively. Conclusion: Students with fair study habits scored significantly more when compared with those having poor study habits, in the portion completion test.