Factors That May Have Influenced the Grades Made on the Junior Standing Examinations in Mathematics and English by Students at the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College in the Fall of 1951

Abstract

Each semester many students fail the junior standing mathematics and English examination at Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College. The primary purpose of this study was to recognize factors which may have been responsible for the failures of students to pass these junior standing examinations. The high school and college transcripts of all students who faile the examinations were compared with transcipts of students who passed the examinations. Comparisons were made to determine if the number of units complete in high school and the number of hours completed in college were factors that influenced the ability of students to pass the examinations. Comparisons were also made to determine if the number of units of science compete in high school had any influence upon the grades made in science in college. The number of units of mathematics and English completed in high school seem to have little influence upon the ability of the students to pass the junior standing mathematics or English examination. Hours of mathematics and English completed in college also seem to have little influence upon the grades made by students on the examinations. This study also show that there is little relationship between the number of units of science completed in high school and the grades made by students in science college. The grade point made in techincal agriculture seem sto be a better indiciation of the student's ability to pass the examinations than units or hours of work completed. Dairy 123 and agricultural economics 233 seem to be of some benefit in preparing students for the mathematics examination. While students who failed the mathematics examination are definitely weak in the solving percent problems, there is evidence that indicates that highly specialized problems were responsible for the failure of many of them.