Pre-College Achievement History and Specilization as Predictors of Students’ Success in College Mathematics: Reflections from National Institute of Transport, Tanzania

Abstract

The paper examined the effect of pre-college mathematics achievement and subject specializations on subject’s success at the college. A cross-sectional design established the findings of the study from 265 students of NTA Level 6, 7 and 8 across various programmes. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Mann Whitney U test and Kruskall-Wallis test generated the findings by the aid of SPSS version 25. The results indicated a statistically significance difference in college mathematics between low and high achievers of the subject at ordinary and advanced secondary education respectively, F(2,264)=10.791, p=0.000; [H(2)=12.091, p=0.002]. Similarly, the results indicated a statistically significance difference in achievement between mathematics and non-mathematics takers in ordinary and advanced level respectively, F(3,264)=3.570, p=0.015; (U=646.5, p=0.000). Therefore, colleges should adopt mechanisms entailing to uplift learning success while accommodating learner diversities.