The Study Skills of First Year Education Students and Their Academic Performance

Abstract

First year students take time to adjust to college life. A number of priorities are considered in order to survive in the tertiary level. One of which is complying with the academic requirements. The study described the study skills of the first year students in the College of Education, La Salle University, Ozamiz City, Philippines. The framework used in identifying the study skills of the first year students was adopted from Lucas and Corpuz (2007:4).These study skills were correlated to the students’ academic performance using Kendall’s Tau B, Chi-square, and Multiple Regression tests. There were 128 first year students who were taken as respondents of the study. The study reveals that the first year students have the skills in organizing and planning their work, preparing assignments or projects, and note-taking and reading. The students’ skills in organizing and planning one’s work; working with others and utilizing resources and feedback; note-taking and reading; and preparing an assignment/project correlate with their grades. The best predictor of students’ academic performance is note-taking and reading. First year college students need to develop the habit of studying their lessons, reading, and taking down notes to improve their academic performance.Keywords: Education, study skills, academic performance, descriptive design, Philippines