The role of self-study time in freshmen’s achievement

Abstract

Although invested study time is expected to relate to exam performance, research findings have been mixed. Therefore, the current study examined (a) the role of self-study time above and beyond relevant student characteristics, affective-motivational processes (i.e. academic self-efficacy, learning goal orientation, and action-state orientation) and the cognitive learning activities deployed while studying the course (i.e. deep, stepwise, and concrete processing), and (b) whether the effect of self-study time on course grade is moderated by these affective-motivational and cognitive learning activities and/or by student characteristics. Ninety three freshmen following a Macro-Economics course and 70 freshmen enrolling in Financial Accounting 2 participated. For Macro-Economics, self-study time predicted course grade above and beyond relevant student characteristics, the degree of class attendance, and course-specific affective-motivational and cognitive learning activities. No interaction effects were obtained. For Financial Accounting 2, students only benefited from more self-study time when they made few exercises.