STUDY HABIT PREFERENCE OF FIRST YEAR ENGINEERING STUDENTS
Abstract
Academic achievement has always been the goal of many students. In order for them to achieve high grades, they shall have a certain study habit which can be a great part of their student life. The purpose of this quantitative research is to know the study habit preference of Freshmen College of Engineering students in order for them to have a basis on how the said students achieve high grades. The researchers used a survey questionnaire consisting of 7 study habits,namely, time management, study environment, test taking or preparation skills, note-taking skills, reading skills, writing skills and math skills presented by Bocar and Tizon (2013) to gather data among 10 students from each Engineering Courses. The mentioned study habits play an important role in the students’ pursuit for excellence. As what this research showed, out of the 6 courses of the College of Engineering (BS Civil Engineering, BS Mechanical Engineering, BS Electrical Engineering, BS Electronics and CommunicationEngineering, BS Geodetic Engineering and BS Mining Engineering), writing skills is the top study habit preference of freshmen College of Engineering students. Knowing the preference of others can be a great help for those students who are still finding the perfect way for them to accomplish excellence. Thus, it is highly recommended for further studies to be made in students’ study habit preferences.
Keywords: Study Habit Preference, engineering, academic achievement.
Introduction
Study habit is the tendency of a student to learn in a systematic and efficient way, when opportunity is given. It is also defined as the devotion of time and attention to acquire information or knowledge especially from books. In the other words, study habit is the pursuit of academic knowledge by a detailed investigation of a subject or situation (Oxford Dictionary &Theasaurus of English Language, 2003).
Preferred study habits presented by Bocar and Tizon (2013), namely, time management, study environment, test taking or preparation skills, note-taking skills, reading skills, writing skills and math skills. Good students are not born but made by constant and deliberate practice of good study habits, for which there is no substitute (Ames & Archer, 1998). Thus, in order to improve academic performance of students, it seems essential to improve their study habits; without which, desired outcomes cannot be achieved. Development of good study habits in students depends upon the efforts they will exert (Kizlik, 2001).
Study habits play an important role in human performance in academic field (Verma, 1996; Verma& Kumar, 1999; Sataphy&Singhal, 2000; Vyas, 2002). Good study habits major to worth academic record; contrastively, callous study habits lead to poor academic record, there is a direct relationship between study habits and academic achievement. Ramamurti (1993) has rightly emphasizes that despite possessing good intelligence and personality, the absence of good study habits hampers academic achievement. Hence, study habits of students play a significant role in learning fundamental to school success. Study habits main theme setting is subjected to be knowledgeable or scrutinized, and the tendency of students to study when the opportunity is provided to them. Students can use effective study skills if they are having good study habits. Many students fail not because they lack ability, but because they do not have adequate study skills (Menzel, 1982).
It is for the reason that the researchers found it necessary to determine the common denominator of study habit preference among 1st year engineering students to validate what category they commonly used in order to pass their examinations. The researchers formulated 2 research questions as follows what is the study habit preference of each courses in College of Engineering, namely, BS Civil Engineering, BS Mining Engineering, BS Electronics and Communication Engineering, BS Electrical Engineering, BS Mechanical Engineering, BS Geodetic Engineering and what is the overall study habit.Students with different socioeconomic status have different ways applied in their studies. Some students conferred that they were not able to get good grades as other students had due to forget to set their study habit preference.
Methodology
This quantitative research utilizes survey questionnaires that may assess the study habit preference of the students. The respondents of this study are the freshmen engineering students of the University of Southeastern Philippines.
In selecting the respondents, the researchers used random sampling by means of “the lottery method”. Every section in each course has assigned numbers. Each number is placed in a paper box and mixed thoroughly. The blind-folded researcher then picks numbered tags from the paper box. Then after the random choosing of the sections, we chose the students again through random sampling by picking 10 students from their number in the master list. There are 60 respondents for this study. 10 each from Civil Engineering, Electronics Communication Engineering, Mining Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Geodetic Engineering students. We chose sections from the morning classes.
The researchers addressed a letter to the Dean of College of Engineering, Dr. Angel P. De Vera asking permission to allow the researchers to conduct the study.
Then researchers adopted a survey questionnaire about the study habit preference among 1st year engineering students. It contains 35 statements which addressed the activities that will identify their preferred study habit presented by Bocar andTizon (2013), namely, time management, study environment, test taking or preparation skills, note taking skills, reading skills, writing skills and math skills. There are five statements for each type of study habit.
After the letter has been approved, the researchers conducted a survey through giving of questionnaires. After the respondents accomplished the survey on their study habit preference, the researchers collated the data gathered. Then, the researchers assessed the results of the gathered data with the aid of a statistician. Afterwards, the research paper including the results will undergo for validation with Mr. Sajed S. Ingilan.
The researchers came up with the results using Rank-Sum Test. They set an intensity value of 5 (on Always), 4 (Very Often), 3 (Often), 2 (Sometimes), and 1 (Never) as the multiplier to the frequency to get the total frequency on each category by adding first the total frequency in each item. Then, they made a percentage out of the total frequency through dividing the total frequency by a total number of respondents that can choose within that category in order to determine the highest percentage which indicates as the preferred study habit of that certain course.
Study Habit Preferences of Each Engineering Courses and its Overall Result
This section presents the outcomes of the study. The discussion is provided to simplify the results of the investigations.
Freshmen’s Study Habits
The Table 1.1 below brings to light the degree of 10 respondents’ study habits of the Bachelor of Science Civil Engineering (BSCE) students in the 7 different skills. It shows that the writing skills is most preferred by the BSCE students because as what the results show, it has the highest percentage, while the math skills has the lowest percentage, showing that it is the least preferred study habit.
The Table 1.2 below brings to light the degree of 10 respondents’ study habits of the Bachelor of Science in Electronics and Communication (BSEcE) students in the 7 different skills. It shows that the writing skills is most preferred by the BSEcE students because as what the results show, it has the highest percentage, while the time management and the Math skills have the lowest percentage, showing that it is the least preferred study habit.
The Table 1.3 below brings to light the degree of 10 respondents’ study habits of the Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) students in the 7 different skills. It shows that the study environment is most preferred by the BSEE students because as what the results show, it has the highest percentage, while the note taking skills has the lowest percentage, showing that it is the least preferred study habit.
The Table 1.4 below brings to light the degree of 10 respondents’ study habits of the Bachelor of Science in Mining Engineering (BSEM) students in the 7 different skills. It shows that the writing skills is most preferred by the BSEM students because as what the results show, it has the highest percentage, while the time management has the lowest percentage, showing that it is the least preferred study habit.
The Table 1.5 below brings to light the degree of 10 respondents’ study habits of the Bachelor of Science in Geodetic Engineering (BSGE) students in the 7 different skills. It shows that the writing skills is most preferred by the BSGE students because as what the results show, it has the highest percentage, while the reading skills has the lowest percentage, showing that it is the least preferred study habit.
The Table 1.6 below brings to light the degree of 10 respondents’ study habits of the Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (BSME) students in the 7 different skills. It shows that the writing skills is most preferred by the BSME students because as what the results show, it has the highest percentage, while the test taking or preparation skills has the lowest percentage, showing that it is the least preferred study habit.
The Table 2.0 below brings to light the degree of 60 respondents’ study habits of the Freshmen College of Engineering students in the 7 different skills.It shows that the writing skills is most preferred by the freshmen Engineering students because as what the results show, it has the highest percentage, while the time management has the lowest percentage, showing that it is the least preferred study habit.
Conclusion
This quantitative research focused on the study habit preference of 1st year Engineering students of University of Southeastern Philippines. The study habit preference of the first year engineering students are Time Management, Study Environment, Preparatory Skills, Note-Taking Skills, Reading Skills, Writing Skills and Math Skills. The researchers used a survey questionnaire in order to attain the highest study habit preference of the students. Furthermore, this study revealed that the highest preferred study habit in all engineering course is Writing Skills that garnered a percentage of 15.687%.
Further, this study would be a great help to those engineering students who would like to know the most preferred study habits of their fellow engineering students. They would be able to determine if the highest preferred habit suits them, then if not, they could try the other best study habit that would finally suits for their learning. In addition, this study can serve as a guide to students on how they will utilize their own study habit. It is better to conduct further studies about study habit preference in order to develop students’ study habits that would help them to achieve the best way of studying for them to attain higher grades.
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ABOUT ME
Mariane A. Rosas, 20, is currently taking up Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering at the University of Southeastern Philippines, Obrero, Davao City.
She spent her secondary years at Davao City National High School,F. Inigo St. Bo ,Obrero, Davao City.
Mariane A. Rosas
ABOUT ME
Laurice Fe Marie D. Vivar, 17, is currently taking up Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering at the University of Southeastern Philippines, Obrero, Davao City.
She spent her secondary level at Nieves Villarica National High School, Samal Island, Davao Del Norte and graduated as Third Honorable mention. Her research interest includes constructing infrastructural buildings on local and industrialized areas and strong foundations for creating bridge support beams.
Laurice Fe Marie D. Vivar
ABOUT ME
Jan Michael I. Nario, 17, is currently taking up Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering at the University of Southeastern Philippines, Obrero, Davao City.
He spent his secondary years at Father SaturninoUrios College of Trento Inc., Trento, Agusan Del Sur. He is also a writer in their school paper publication. He loves reading and writing poems.
Jan Michael I. Nario
ABOUT ME
Kynt Harold A. Gonzaga, 17, is currently taking up Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering at the University of Southeastern Philippines, Obrero, Davao City.
He spent his secondary years at Bayugan National Comprehensive High School, Bayugan City, Agusan Del Sur. He is a member of the debating society in their school.
Kynt Harold A. Gonzaga
ABOUT ME
Dyrenne Jayne G. Lago, 18, is currently taking up Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering at the University of Southeastern Philippines, Obrero, Davao City.
She spent her secondary years at Maragusan National High School, Maragusan, Compostela Valley and graduated as Valedictorian. She is fond reading greek and egyptian mythologies.
Dyrenne Jayne G. Lago
ABOUT ME
Dannila Krishia L. Casis, 17, is currently taking up Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering at the University of Southeastern Philippines, Obrero, Davao City.
She spent her secondary years at Bayugan National Comprehensive High School, Bayugan City, Agusan Del Sur. She is one of the writers in their school paper publication.
Dannila Krishia L. Casis
ABOUT ME
Allen Dave M. Basco, 17, is currently taking up Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering at the University of Southeastern Philippines, Obrero, Davao City.
. He spent his secondary years at Maco National High School, Maco, Compostela Valley. He is a math wizard and likes to solve puzzles.
Allen Dave M. Basco