Identifying the Correlation between the Students’ Achievement in SPM Mathematics and Semester 1 and 2 Overall Performance for the Electrical Department of Politeknik Kota Bharu

Abstract

This study aims to identify the relationship between students’ achievement in SPM Mathematics and the performance in engineering courses among students of the Department of Electrical Engineering for semesters 1 and 2. The objective of the study is to obtain certainty and validity that there are effects on the relationship of Electrical Engineering students’ achievement and the admission prerequisites for SPM Mathematics subjects. This study is an exploratory study using secondary data based on the results of the students’ semester examinations (continuous assessment and final examination for students of semester 1 and 2) for a period of five semesters (June 2017 - June 2019). The study sample of 969 students consisting of Diploma program students in the Department of Electrical Engineering was taken for the purpose of this study. Six hypotheses were constructed for this study. Statistical ANOVA method was used to analyze these hypotheses. The test results prove that there is a significant relationship between the achievement of the Discipline Core Courses and the Common Core Courses for semester 1 Electrical Engineering students and the SPM Mathematics achievement, but there is no significant relationship between the Discipline Core Courses and Common Core Courses and the SPM Mathematics achievement for semester 2.