Why Some Students Excel While Others Struggle - Case Study Example

Replication study: why some excel while others struggle This is a replication study of the original study d 'Metacognition as a Mediator of the Effect of Test Anxiety on a Surface approach to studying' as a further attempt to comprehend the etiology behind success and failure of a student in any setting. 40 students were tested and the study came out to be not significantly different as compared to the original study. Marks and grades secured still remains the main index judging the performance of a student, which though has a big say in determining the future rise of the student in work related to his field of study, but is not always entirely dependant on it. Keeping this is mind there has been an effort made to also focus on more subjective aspects like happiness and comfort in a student's life and therefore having a wider vision, which is not necessarily of a labeling type. There are many factors hindering the academic progress of a student like worrying, worrying about worrying and being threatened by it, lack of self confidence, lack of focus on studies or career, general apathy, health status, addictions, intelligence. Factors like natural intelligence tend to take a back seat especially among below average students in colleges because the problem there lies in the wrong approach towards studies leading to less number of productive study hours and not necessarily with outcome per productive hours. Its for that reason that some poor students may score very high on random IQ tests but fail to deliver in regular tests while students with lower IQ's tend to ace them. In the present study, two very reliable indices where used as a further attempt to understand the factors governing the level of stress felt by students. The point of this exercise is to measure what influences feelings of stress in students. The aim of this practical is to measure the relationship between stressors and perceived anxiety and/or depression in university students. Two questionnaires were used: the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the (revised) Higher Education Stress Index (HESI). From 40 participants, each person's HADS Anxiety score was calculated, and then the anxiety group was determined (none = 0-7; mild = 8-10; moderate/severe = 11+). This is the independent variable, which has three levels; on the contrary the HESI index is a dependant variable, with no clear cut categorization. So in that, how a particular result of a student compared with others would be used to analyse the outcome. The HESI index is used to (Dahlin et al, 2005) to perceive the levels of stress in medical students. It was been modified by permission to be used as an index for all university students. As a result its preciseness may be doubted due to higher stress levels and work load in medical students and different settings like variable work hours, higher fee structures etc. But because it's a relative study and not an absolute one, in my opinion it still retains its usefulness for analysing stress levels of students of the same course or college, without really compromising its reliability and validity. HESI took into consideration varied aspects such as social life of students, relations with peers and teachers, financial situation, study satisfaction, free will, future plans, undue burden of work etc. Whether learning is just on surface or a thorough one also find mention in this study which shows a clear reflection of the ground level approach of a student with regards to his coursework. An apparent increase in seriously disturbed students consulting student health services in the UK has led to concern that increasing financial difficulties and other outside pressures may affect student mental health and academic performance (Andrews, B. & Wilding, J.M. 2004). The minimum or the best score one could score was 33 out of the same number of questions being awarded a mark each for the 'best' answer tending towards the lowest levels of stress or conflict, whereas 4 points were assigned for the answer tending towards the highest stress levels. The average score was about 68. The HADS scale consisted of questions pertaining more specifically on current anxiety and depression and on emotional changes indicative of a person undergoing stress and has more to do with internal feelings rather than alluding to the relationship with the external environment. Every question had 4 options and a positive would mean no points whereas a negative one would add one point to the total and then categorization was done, which has been mentioned earlier. It was clearly indicated that there was a direct co relation between both the indices; students who performed poorly in one had the same result in the other. Students in high stress category according to HADS scale were among the highest points on the HESI scale establishing a direct link between external environment and the internal equilibrium due to low p values. This again provided a support to the nature of direct co relation between test anxiety and Meta cognition; and between Meta cognition and surface approach to studying. Mind is a good servant but a bad master, if a student allows the anxiety to get to him, then mind tends to over rule rationality. Whereas under similar circumstances, low levels of anxiety would provide just the impetus needed to get started with work though at that time it may not feel 'pleasurable' but that feeling slowly sets in as the work at hand gets over. So after that the time of break can be used to recuperate and refresh. But a certain group of students never faces the problem and even when they are doing nothing, they are anxious about doing nothing which piles on overtime leading to further frustration thereby the person falls into a vicious circle. Such students resort to surface studying which doesn't seem fascinating further helping to build up negative views about studies. Socially, such people feel left out or feel like they are moving against the tide leading to maladjustment. Some students naturally tend to suffer from abnormal levels of anxiety and there is a trigger of meta cognition which tends to reject or escape from such thoughts and what results is a negative perspective towards academics and thereby students tend to take a surface approach to studies which is different from a focussed study of important topics based on their frequency of appearing in the exams or importance of that knowledge with regard to that field of study. It may be mentioned that in the end students trying to 'run away' experience more stress and discomfort than their counterparts who tend to 'face it'. There is a tendency among students to not accept the escapist behaviour under the garb of acting cool and carefree which further complicates the situation. Sometimes, it may lead to issues to non adjustability especially with students who perform which can be from either side, due to jealousy or due to vanity. Success in studies has a major role to play in performance in extra curricular activities and general social life in college which may get hindered especially due to a failure in some examination. In most medical schools, the environment itself is an all prevailing pressure providing an authoritarian and rigid system; one that encourages competition rather than cooperation between learners (Dahlin, M., Joneborg, N. & Runeson, B. 2005) but university life go a great extends carves the perspective of the individual before he is ready to go out there and make a full time living so a critical analysis of the factors governing the life of the students is the need of the hour with innumerable problems present to threaten the life of the student, so that they can be picked up by proper counselling and care and resolved in due time. It's essential also because like this the student won't develop a negative self esteem or a negative image about the world as a whole. University is like world in a nutshell for a student and it's our perception of the world that determines our reality. The whole concept of doing a formal course sometimes doesn't go well with people of certain personalities- the ones who want to be care free without things that they have to do. So there is a role psychology has to play in identifying people among these groups who are talented and somehow helping them go through the system with proper attention. Just as every person is unique, in the same way it won't be wrong to be flexible with approaching certain types who feel like a mismatch in the system. There is always a danger that such a student may get lost in the crowd and have a hard time forming ones identity leading to all sorts of problems. There is a small group of students which instead of losing interest in studies due to surface learning, tends to lose interest due to vats amount of syllabus to be covered thereby, not allowing them to delve themselves deeply in a particular topic which fascinates them. Einstein developed a great distaste for science which lasted one year after he finally could finish his degree. Some people have a great deal of understanding of the practical side of everything without having a patience to mug and write down the theory. Another factor that affects most students negatively is the sea change from school to college environment- increase in levels of academics or changes in social demands, while many face major relationship issues with their parents, friends and partners at this major stage. The 'image' in school over many years can get shattered in a few days. The depressed student should be brought to the counsellor, which is infact missed in many cases due to reluctance to see a counsellor out of shyness or social stigma attached to it in the minds of certain people. Other departments of medicine should make it a point to carefully rule out any psychological causes for apparent clinical manifestations, therefore it would be sensible to treat the underlying cause and not just the symptoms. Genetic predisposition, family history, lack of interest in surroundings, ignoring of personal hygiene, self pity, self condemnation, substance abuse are some of the common conditions which must be ruled out for any patient presenting to the physician. In the end comes a group of students who don't seem to do well even with no apparent cause to explain it. And may all of a sudden turn out to be a huge success after struggling in college for it's the human mind which can never be full comprehended by sheer logic of one event leading to another. This finds mention to never label anyone as a failure because we should always keep room for that phenomenon that brought us here-a miracle. References Andrews, B. & Wilding, J.M. (2004): The relation of depression and anxiety to life-stress and achievement in students. British Journal of Psychology. 95: 509-521 Dahlin, M., Joneborg, N. & Runeson, B. (2005): Stress and depression among medical students: a cross-sectional study. Medical Education. 39: 594-604. Read More