An Analysis on Diploma Students’ Performance in Mathematics using Chi-Square Test

Abstract

Mathematics is a science that studies the logic of shapes, numbers, and orders. This is one of the most crucial subjects in the school curriculum. Mathematics is a fundamental skill that students must learn in order to succeed in other subjects. Students have difficulty in understanding mathematical problems, which affects problem-solving process. Most students find Mathematics is difficult, thus they will struggle to score well in this subject. This study focused on the factors that affect the performance in Mathematics subjects and also to identify the relationship between the factors that affect the performance based on the students’ grade in Mathematics. This paper focused the Pre-Calculus subject among 122 students of Diploma in Computer Sciences in UiTM Melaka Branch, Jasin Campus. A set of questionnaires was distributed to the students consist of their demographic profile, assessment marks, time spent studying per week, challenges in learning the subject and feedback on the mathematics’ lecturer. The results were analyzed using SPSS and the descriptive statistics of the collected data were presented in charts and percentages. It is shown that, majority of students struggle memorizing facts, methods, and equations, which is followed by analyzing theories, concepts, or ideas, and applying what they have learned in a practical situation. The Chi-Square test was used to analyze the relationship between factors influencing their performance based on the grade and the results showed that gender and place of residence factors directly affect the performance of students in Pre -Calculus subject.