Feel the Progress: Second-year Students’ Reflections on Their First-year Experience

The aim of the present study was to explore first-year students’ academic emotions and how they relate to their study progress. A mixed-method approach was used. The data consisted of deep interviews with 43 students. The number of their study credits was used as an indicator of their study progress. The results revealed that students expressed a wide variation of emotions. In addition, the study found significant relations between students’ emotions and study progress. Results show that slow and fast-pace students significantly differed from each other regarding their emotional experiences. Slow pace students experienced significantly more negative emotions than fast pace students. Slow and fast pace students differed especially regarding their feeling of competence. The implications of the study are discussed.