Predictors of academic performance of medical undergraduate students of microbiology class in Kolkata

Context: Identification of the effect of valid factors on students’ academic performance is of great importance to student counseling and policy making. Aims: This study was carried out to find the predictors of academic performance of 2^nd year undergraduate medical students of a renowned Medical College of Kolkata. Materials and Methods: This cross sectional study was carried out in a tertiary care teaching hospital of Kolkata. The information on factors like attendance percentage, sex, place of residence, previous academic performance of the entire batch of 2^nd year students was collected from the departments’ academic records and through personal interview. The association of the above mentioned factors with students’ academic performance was determined through statistical analysis using t-test and multiple linear regression modeling and the results were reported. Results: Academic performance is found to be weakly correlated with attendance. Better academic grade was observed for the group with high attendance percentage compared to the other with low attendance percentage (P < 0.01). Higher percentage of marks was observed to be scored by female students (P < 0.01), local students (P < 0.01) and high performers who were capable of successfully clearing their 1^st year’s coursework in their first attempt (P < 0.01). Conclusion: All the factors studied in this paper which includes attendance, sex, place of residence and previous academic performance serve as predictors in understanding students’ performance. Among the above mentioned, the attendance of the students is an important factor that has to be monitored and regulated through corrective actions to improve the performance of the class.