Whenever the examination result of a student is out, first question is, “What is the percentage of marks?” or “What is the CGPA grade of the student?” Next reaction is to evaluate his performance in relation to his peers, his past performance, his future target etc.
Performance of a student in examinations depends on what he writes in examination, which further, is not the result of a single factor but a number of factors like, his personal, class related and teacher related factors, and some other commonly noticed and external factors:
1. Personal factors:
Personal factors include the factors closely related to the student and the factors which are within his control, like:
(A) His own efforts:
Some students do not want to put in efforts in studies, but want the results to be good instantly. Whereas the so called intelligent students put in their best efforts in their studies.
(B) Attention in the class:
Some students are attentive to whatever the teacher teaches whereas some students are not at all attentive. They do not want to be attentive. They just enjoy sitting in the class. Physically they are in class but mentally they are somewhere else. His class participation is of major influence in keeping him attentive.
(C) Regularity in the class:
Some students are not at all regular in the class, thereby missing the link in chapters taught. Depending on the nature of topic and the subject concerned, there can be total wastage of the classes attended in case of missing links in the lessons.
(D) Revision of lesson:
Some students are keen learners in the class but as soon as the class is over, they forget to revise and put in more efforts as they consider the matter understood in the class will be retained in their long lasting memory. They do not understand the importance of self-study, revision and practice.
(E) Life perspective:
Many a students have no idea of what they are doing, why they are doing. They just attend the classes and that’s it, without thinking they have to make a successful career ahead.
(f) Self-Motivation:
Some students are so much centered on their goal in life as to what they want to become, whereas some others have no such idea, no planning etc. This factor has a direct relation with his efforts for studying and clearing the examination.
(g) Family Issues:
Support of the family, relations of parents, relation with siblings, financial problems, illness in the family etc. prove to be major source of mental burden of the student leading to poor performance.
2. Class related factors:
The teacher, class-mates, subject-matter under study and physical conditions of the classroom etc. also affect the performance of a student:
(A) Teacher:
In a class having a qualified teacher one can expect favourable performance of the students. But it is not always true. The teacher must be passionate about her work; he should be loyal to the institution he is working for.
If the relations between the teacher and his employer are not cordial, we cannot expect good performance of students. If he is continuously under stress of losing the job even with his best efforts, again the result would be same. Above all the teacher should consider the educational institution to be a work place where he should come properly dressed but not in a manner so as to attract all the students’ attention to his clothes only.
(B) Subject matter:
Some subjects require average level of intelligence whereas some topics and subjects are within the understanding level of students with high I.Q. only. It is the basic point to be understood by all concerned, as revealed by Psychological studies.
This is also one of the major causes of stress to the students, teachers and the parents alike. The student with average level of intelligence is expected to get too higher score than his capability.
(C) Classmates:
In case of senior students, classmates play a major role, as intelligent students are more competitive and are instrumental in boosting each other’s efforts. Non- competitive students in most of the cases are carefree in nature and put in least efforts.
3. Examination related factors:
Attempting the paper needs special skills like concentration, clear expression, time management etc. A student must follow some guidelines to attempt the paper. Main factors related to examination are:
(A) Concentration:
The ability of the student to concentrate plays a crucial role in bringing his efforts into play now.
(B) Reading of question paper:
It is the most important point here. Sometimes, out of fear or out of excitement some students don’t read the question paper thoroughly. They don’t read the instructions properly.
In Accountancy, many students pass journal entries instead of preparing ledger accounts and vice-versa. The result is that they get zero mark for answering like that.
(C) Expression and Presentation in paper:
Student should be able to reproduce what he had learnt. A strong written expression is required for that. Re-reading the topic again and again and understanding the same are required for this purpose.
A student can use Diagrams and simple cartoons to illustrate the things.
(D) Time management:
In theory based paper students often complain of less time. The problem is actually that they don't use time management.
They devote unnecessary time to the answers they know well but cannot spare time for the answers to the questions requiring understanding and long explanation. Result is, they lose some questions that could not be attempted.
4. Other factors:
There can be some other factors in some cases like:
- whether his mind is preoccupied with something not related to examination,
- peer pressure etc.,
- personality of the student whether he is introvert or extrovert,
- external factors like noise outside the examination hall,
- happening of an incident with the student on his way to the examination hall etc.
So, when a performance of a student is analysed especially by the parents, the details of the above factors must be explored to help the student in future instead of cursing and pressurising him for low performance.
