Factors Affecting Students’ Achievement in Mathematics

Abstract

Most programs at the university level require completion of mathematics courses. To survive inuniversity, those who are taking mathematics courses should succeed in their examination so that this canbe a path for them to proceed smoothly in their study. This research investigates the factors contributingtowards achievement in mathematics at a public university. The identified factors are students’ attitude,student-centered learning and classroom environments. The data was collected randomly from 86students who took business mathematics course in 2018 through a distribution of questionnaires. Thisstudy focused on the measurement model and structural model of Partial Least Square analysis. Thefindings indicate that students’ attitude most significantly affected the achievement in mathematics,followed by students’ centered learning. Meanwhile, classroom environment is found as an insignificantfactor of the achievement in mathematics. As a conclusion, students’ attitude is the most influential factorin mathematics achievement compared to students’ centered learning and classroom environments.Therefore, the management of higher education should focus on the empowerment of students’ attitudetowards mathematics subject and improve the quality of student-centered learning at the university. Keywords: achievement in mathematics, students’ attitude, student-centered learning, classroom environments, Partial Least Square