Approaches on learning and academic performance of first year medical students at Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos

Abstract

Introduction: Every year thousands of medical students face the challenge of overcoming academic subjects to acquire skills for their professional activities. The success of the student’s life on the way to the profession depends on many factors including learning approaches. Objective: To determine the predominant learning approaches in the first year medical students and their relationship to academic achievement. Design: Observational, descriptive, quantitative study. Institution: Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru. Participants: Medical students. Interventions: The short version of the questionnaire Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST) was applied to 130 first year medical students enrolled in the Cellular and Molecular Biology subject; the relationship of learning approaches with academic performance was evaluated. The association of the subscales was assessed by factorial analysis and the internal consistency by Cronbach's alpha analysis. The relationship of each approach to learning and academic performance was evaluated by regression analysis. The effect of age, gender and their interactions with each learning approach were evaluated by a two-way ANOVA. Main outcome measures: Deep, strategic and superficial learning approaches score. Results: The total score for deep, strategic and superficial learning approaches were 22.4, 20.4, and 15.4 respectively. There was significant correlation between theoretical examination scores and strategic approach (p = 0.004). No differences in relation to age and sex were found. Conclusions: The deep approach was predominant in San Marcos first year medical students. There was high significant correlation between the theoretical examinations and the strategic approach.