Prediction of Academic Achievement of University Students: Learning Styles and Strategies

Introduction. There is evidence of the relationship between the academic achievement of university students and the learning styles and strategies they use. However, there are inconsistencies between the results of the different studies on the topic, making it difficult to identifying a profile that would allow the prediction of high academic achievement. This study seeks to identify a set of learning styles and strategies that predict high academic achievement among university students. Method. A total of 254 students (18-32 years old) from the nursing, psychology and medicine programmes, selected by random probability cluster sampling, participated. Participants completed the Evaluation of Learning Strategies of University Students Questionnaire, the effort self-regulation scale of the Motivation and Learning Strategies Questionnaire, and the Honey-Alonso questionnaire about Learning Styles. Academic achievement was obtained from the cumulative academic average. Results. The correlations between the variables indicate that academic achievement relates positively and significantly related to the nine learning strategies and negatively related to the active learning style. Nevertheless, only the social interaction skills and learning from peers' strategy was a predictor of high academic achievement. Discussion and Conclusion. It was found that the active style reduces the probability of belonging to the high academic achievement group.