Exploring Factors Related to First Year College Students’ Academic Achievement in Indonesia

Grade Point Average (GPA) was commonly used as a measure of college students' academic achievement. There was no analysis yet regarding factors related to academic achievement for college students in Indonesia. The purpose of this study is to predict factors related to first year academic achievement. The knowledge about those factors could be used by freshmen and study program coordinator to assist students in facing academic challenges. Participants were 156 first-year students in a faculty of State University X. A structural equation model (SEM) using IBM SPSS AMOS version 21 was used to analyze the data. The result shows that first semester grade point was directly predicted by Intelligence weighted likelihood estimates (WLE) score, and Learning resources, Study program priority choice, First adaptation problem, and Mother education. While Gender indirectly predicted first year academic achievement through learning resources. Rule inference ability was the strongest predictor from intelligence score, while perceptual speed ability was the weakest. The frequency of using Slideshows as a learning resource evidently affect first year student academic achievement. Further investigation with more students' factors and adding lecturer level factors are recommended.