Sarah M.S. Shathele and Anitha Oommen
The present study was undertaken to investigate the factors influencing the academic performance of the female medical students in the preclinical (2 nd and 3 rd year) and clinical years (4 th and 5 th years).A cross- sectional study was carried out involving 100 female medical students (preclinical and clinical) in Northern Border University. A comprehensive questionn aire was used to evaluate the factors influencing their academic performance. A comparison was done between the factors influencing the academic performance of the preclinical and the clinical student s. The strongest positive factors which influenced the academic performance of all the female medical st udents were the facility av ailable for study, family support, and awareness about the medical course. Anxi ety and stress and lack of sleep were the strong negative factors in both. There was significant di fference between preclinical and clinical students regarding the time for self-study (p<0.05) and lack of sleep (p<0.05). Although the strongest positive factors and negative factors were similar in both preclinical and clinical students, there was variation in factors like English skills, personal time, family time an d time for self-study. There was an increase in the English language skills, competition in studies and time for self-stud y in the clinical students when compared to the preclinical students, though the difference was not statistically significant.
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