TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT 2

INTRODUCTION 3

METHODOLOGY 5

RESULT 6

DISCUSSION 10

REFERENCE 12

APPENDIX 13

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 ABSTRACT

This research aimed to find out the most effective strategies to improve academic

performance among students. It also investigated several reasons why they cannot obtain the

expected score. The instrument employed in this study was a form of questionnaire. A total of 62

students from different universities in Southern Vietnam. The sample was randomly assigned.

Individuals were personally answered online using a standard questionnaire. The findings showed

that the respondents preferred self-study rather than group study. On average, they tended to inspect

for information by reading research articles and spend the most time preparing all lessons before

taking the exam. Also, the result examined that goal setting and time management were effective

strategies, thus thriving their grades. However, it is recommended that future studies should be

conducted on a wider population and structured to capture certain statistics in a variety of the

format.

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 INTRODUCTION

In the era of social advances, education has become increasingly important. Study habits are

at the core that supports a person’s educational path being more prosperous. Study habits take a

certain specified and continuous-time to apply personally to the learning activity. It may be

classified as either effective or ineffective based on how efficiently it supports the pupils.

Each person has various study habits. However, improving academic performance is the goal of

every student.

One study by Kaur and Pathania (2017) highlighted that age, family income, and education

were elements that had a significant impact on college students' study habits and association with

the academic accomplishment of their learning behavior. The research findings indicated that

academic achievement and study practices are consistently related. Moreover, J.P. Fouche (2017)

observed that substantial association with academic achievement has been proven by research

patterns such as task, class attendance, time control, attention, and hard work. It was also examined

that inferior study habits have a detrimental relationship with the student's academic performance,

which may lead to poor results.

The findings of studies examined the relationship between study habits and educational

achievement. However, studies by Kaur and Pathania (2017) investigated that the factors that lead

to efficient study habits are outside the students’ control. In addition, studies by J.P. Fouche (2017)

mentioned that substandard results of pupils are due to lousy study habits but there is no specific

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data support for this statement. Although a great deal of research has been done to date, more

studies need to be conducted to ascertain the effect of study habits in a variety of learning situations.

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the determinants of the study habits among

undergraduates as it influences students’ academic performance. It was hypothesized that self-study

is the most effective strategy such as setting goals and time management.

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 METHODOLOGY

The research was conducted on the 3rd of June 2021. The target population consisted of

students from a multitude of universities. This comprised 24 boys and 38 girls, totaling 62. The

sample was randomly selected. The majority of students were from Southern Vietnam.

The test instrument employed in this study was a form of the questionnaire. It comprised a

set of 15 closed-ended questions. The first three questions elicited information about personal

information about the respondents. The next five questions gained data relating to their study habits

outside of regular school hours. The other four questions gathered information concerning the

learning manners in class. The final questions asked respondents about pre-test and post-test review

strategies.

Following this, the Google Form link was sent online to ISB students. The subjects took 3 to

5 minutes for each student to accomplish the questionnaire. The researchers were available for

support in case subjects had difficulty in answering.

Finally, the statistics were added up. The primary data gathering tool was the questionnaire

that the researchers chose to ascertain the respondents' study habits. It was converted into

percentages and presented in various graphic forms for analysis.

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 RESULT

Figure 1

The first pie chart compares the proportions of two kinds of learning while the second bar

chart illustrates the different strategies' effectiveness of self-study. In general, self-learning was a

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common method for students. Besides, it is clear that most students believed setting goals and

managing time as potent strategies.

As can be seen from the pie chart, self-study occupied 61%, which was precisely 20%

higher than that in group study. Moving on to the second chart, over 77% of students witnessed

setting goals and time management as efficient strategies, while neither of the respondents

considered these two strategies ineffective. In terms of setting goals, 19.4% of respondents

experienced it to be moderately effective, which is approximately six times higher than that for

those who answered less effectively. Similarly, as regards time management, the data obtained that

undergraduates believed it was average effective (17.7%), compared with only 4.8% for less

effectiveness.

Figure 2

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 The chart demonstrates the assortment of common reasons why students were incapable of

reaching an expected result. Overall, the most popular cause for this situation was unable to acquire

knowledge.

It is noticeable that cannot get the information led the way with as much as 67.7%, whereas

late submission just constituted roughly a half (33.9%). The tension came in second with 51.6%,

marginally higher than that of the language barrier (43.5%).

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Figure 3

The pie chart depicts the different proportions of searching in information in 5 ways. In

general, the most striking feature is that these categories made up quite distinctive portions, in

which the percentage of reading research articles was ranked the highest.

In more detail, reading research articles accounted for the greatest ratio at 39%, as opposed

to only 1% of searching Google. Additionally, searching information on social media was ranked

second place (26%). Finally, the proportion of watching videos, and reading the textbook made up

similar chunks (16% for the former and 18% for the latter).

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Figure 4

The bar chart examines the percentages of some strategies that students cope with the exam.

Overall, respondents spent the most time reviewing all lessons, while the least rate was recorded

cheating in the examinations.

It is obvious that the ratio of preparing all lessons was the highest, taking up 87.1%, almost

2 times higher than that on holding mentality steady. Additionally, the percentage of committing

lessons to memory was stood at second place with 54.8%. Finally, the proportion of relaxing was

ranked the third place (38.7%), while cheating in examinations was 3 times smaller at precisely

12.9%.

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 DISCUSSION

The study aimed to access the relationship between study habits and undergraduates’

academic performance. It was hypothesized that self-study is the most effective strategy to improve

the grades such as setting goals and time management.

The findings were broadly consistent with the hypothesis. According to Clark, Gill, Prowse,

and Rush (2020), goal setting is an intervention that can improve college outcomes. It was also in

agreement with a previous study that considered time management as one of the skills that impact

students' academic performance. The study revealed that the students who obtained a high grade

also had a high average score on time management (Khanam, Sahu, Rao, Kar, and Quazi 2017).

The main finding of the research was that the majority of students favor self-study more

than group study. It is probably that it can boost students’ self-esteem. As students do more

self-study, they might become more independent learners. In the result above, one of the main

reasons students cannot gain their expected score was that they are not able to acquire knowledge.

Thus, self-study could be another opportunity to think about topics more deeply and connect what

they are learning. It seems certain that self-learning might be a key motivation boost for students.

It is possible that the most effective strategies for improving grades were setting goals and

time management. As in university, it is common to learn multiple subjects in one stage. There are

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even multiple deadlines at the same time. Therefore, students tend to make schedules to be able to

manage their time better. Otherwise, students may be overwhelmed, resulting in a loss of their

marks. In addition, this research also explored several study habits of undergraduates. The result

shows that most students prefer to find information by reading research articles. It is probably

because they can experience the field of data science with more specific details than other types

such as reading the textbook, watching videos.

The significant limitation in this research was the number of respondents and the form of the

questionnaire. Only 62 people doing the questionnaire and the questionnaire format did not collect

any qualitative data. It is recommended that future research should be done on a larger sample and

designed in a variety of the format, which could be collected specific statistics.

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 REFERENCE

Clark, D, Gill, D, Prowse, V & Rush, M 2020, ‘Using goals to motivate college students: theory
and evidence from field experiments’, The Review of Economics and Statistics, vol. 102, no. 4, pp.
648–663, viewed 14 June 2021, <Using Goals to Motivate College Students: Theory and Evidence
From Field Experiments | The Review of Economics and Statistics | MIT Press>.

Fouche, JP 2017, ‘The reported study habits and time-management trends of post-graduate students
in accountancy’, South African Journal of Higher Education, vol. 31, no. 9, pp. 197-217, viewed 12
June 2021, <https://www.journals.ac.za/index.php/saj%20he/article/view/1356>.

Kaur, A & Pathania, R 2017, ‘Study habits and academic performance among late adolescents’,
Studies on Home and Community Science, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 33-35, viewed 12 June 2021,
<https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09737189.2015.11885430>.

Khanam, N, Sahu, T, Rao, EV, Kar, SK & Quazi, SZ 2017, ‘A study on university student’s time
management and academic achievement’, International Journal of Community Medicine and Public
Health, vol. 4, no. 12, pp. 1761-1765, viewed 14 June 2021,
<https://www.ijcmph.com/index.php/ijcmph/article/view/2216>.

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 APPENDIX

What are the most effective strategies to improve the grades?

1. What is your age?

Under 18 □ 18 to 23 □ 23 and over □

2. What is your gender?

Male □ Female □ Not convenient to say □

3. Have you graduated or not?

Yes □ No □ Maybe □

4. What kind of learning do you think is more effective? (Choose one)

Self-study □ Group study □

5. How many hours do you usually spend on study? (Choose one)

1-2 hours □ 3-5 hours □ 6-8 hours □ More than 8 hours □

6. How do you usually do your assignment? (Choose one)

Complete homework after class is over □

Wait until the submission deadline is closed □

Copy the assignment of your peers □

7. How effective do you think setting a goal before doing something?

Less effective ⚪ ⚪ ⚪ ⚪ ⚪ Most effective

8. Do you think time management is an effective strategy to get good grades?

Less effective ⚪ ⚪ ⚪ ⚪ ⚪ Most effective

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 9. Why you cannot achieve the score that you expected? (May select more than one option)

Late submission □ Unable to acquire knowledge □ Language barrier □ Stressful □

10. How do you absorb information in class? (Cross X)

Often Sometimes Never

Take notes

Exchange with classmates

Focus on the lecture

Rote learning

11. Do you think using the Internet is an effective way to study?

Less effective ⚪ ⚪ ⚪ ⚪ ⚪ Most effective

12. How do you find the information? (Choose one)

Read research articles □

Watch videos (TV, Youtube) □

Read textbook □

Social media □

Other □

13. How do you deal with the exam? (You may select more than one option)

Prepare all lessons □

Learn by heart □

Psychologically stable □

Cheating in examinations □

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Relaxing □

14. What will you do if you fail the exam? (Choose one)

Review the weak point □

Try harder in other exams □

Ignore the results □

Ask for teacher feedback □

15. Do you think your learning strategies are effective? (Choose one)

Yes □ No □ Maybe □

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