News
10.02.2025
Unsuccessful in exams? Studying regularly helps.
Study on students' learning activity before and after exam dates as an indicator of performance in STEM courses
By Rebecca Beiter
As always, exams are coming up at the end of term. However, learning all the material in the short term does not lead to success. Those who study regularly achieve better grades. This was shown by Keyserlingk et al. in their study, in which they analysed the learning behaviour of 1596 students in a total of four chemistry courses using data from a learning management system and examined the correlation with the student's performance. Students who regularly worked on the course content and showed continuous activity in the learning management system even after their mid-term exams received better course grades.
On the other hand, increased learning activities shortly before the exams did not predict performance.
In a sub-study the researchers took a closer look at some of the students who experienced the relevant chemistry courses as ‘particularly challenging’. Although they tried to regulate their learning behaviour and resolved to adapt their learning behaviour for upcoming exams, they were unable to do so in the long term. They found it difficult to regulate the time and effort they invested in learning.
Publication
von Keyserlingk, L., Lauermann, F., Yu, R., Li, Q., Rubach, C., Arum, R., & Heckhausen, J. (2025). Students’ study activities before and after exam deadlines as predictors of performance in STEM courses: A multi-source data analysis. Learning and Individual Differences. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2024.102598
Media Contact
Rebecca Beiter
Rebecca.Beiter@uni-tuebingen.de