Academic performance refers to the extent or measurement of a student’s achievements across all their academic subjects. Academic productivity describes the progression and the growing improvements that surround one's academic journey. There are two sides to everything, and this applies to academic performance as well. Academic performance could entail a good level of natural intellect, mental ability, and academic excellence, but it could also entail good levels of hard work and perseverance.
Whether you’re in elementary school, high school, or tertiary school, academic performance could be an essential part of progressing to the next level of your education. When teachers or people of authority assess your academic performance and productivity, there are numerous things that are explored and which have major influence on the results. They could review your classroom work performance, your graduation rates, your grade point average, your class placement, or your results from standardized exams.
Here are some factors that influence academic performance and productivity:
1. A Person’s BackgroundPeople are all different, and everyone has a different background, history, and family life. A person’s background could describe their family origins, their values, and many other factors. Some people experience or have experienced hardships that are difficult to escape. Some people have broken families. Some people have religions and cultures that contribute to the way they carry themselves and live their lives.
Many people are mocked for their differences in values and backgrounds. The weight that a person’s background has in the social realm can contribute to the weight that it has on one’s academic performance and productivity. Some people also experience various cultural constraints that don’t allow them to explore certain subjects and force them to gravitate toward a fixed career path. This makes it hard for one to actively participate and perform well in their given subjects because they feel slightly pressured into following certain rules. When one is free to choose subjects, they’re more likely to actively work towards doing great in them.
Any person may have a long history of family and generational family issues that they worry about. For example, if your grandparents and parents struggled to graduate from college due to poor academic performance, you may begin to believe that the same fate will fall upon you. Thereafter, you may find it hard to make efforts towards good academic performance and productivity.
2. Housing EnvironmentA person’s living situation could affect their academic performance and productivity. People who live in places like The Landing or any other student housing usually have environments designed for students. These could have things like strict rules surrounding noise, as well as rules around curfew, study rooms, access to computers, and many other resources. This kind of environment could promote good academic productivity.
However, people who live in homes with numerous people in them or who share living spaces with many people may find it hard to be academically productive. They could be prone to high noise levels, thus, resulting in reduced concentration, they could struggle with access to resources, or they could be more prone to distraction. People may have different attention spans, but there’s likely to be a difference in academic performance between a person who studied in complete silence, compared to a person who studied with a crying baby in the next room.
3. Mental HealthA person’s mental health describes their psychological, emotional, and social wellbeing. It could also refer to your cognitive and behavioral state. Many people struggle with maintaining good mental health. Mental health is one factor that can influence your daily life, your interactions with other people, as well as your academic performance.
The stress of academic work could contribute to the declining of your mental health, the same way that your mental health could contribute to poor academic performance and productivity. Mental health conditions, such as, depression, stress, and anxiety, could lead you to experiencing troubles in the classroom.
The said conditions may lead to a lack of concentration, minimal participation in classes, mixing up of due dates, procrastination, and many other things that could possibly affect your academic performance and productivity. Furthermore, if you struggle with your mental health, you may also have low optimism or reduced energy levels. Conditions such as eating disorders could affect your eating habits, and you may start experiencing fatigue or lack of energy within the classroom space.
If you’re not consciously aware of the work that’s covered in the classroom, your academic performance and productivity could get affected. If you lack optimism or positivity surrounding your academic work, you may be less motivated to follow through with engaging with your academic work. Mental health is real and should be adhered to as soon as signs arise, and, then, perhaps, you could have a steady academic performance.
4. Financial StatusYour financial status refers to what the state and condition of your finances is. For many people, their financial status changes continuously due to the dependency on how the product or service of their work performs. Others, on the one hand, have a rather unchanging financial status due to the continued financial stability that they maintain. Your financial status could have influence on your academic performance and productivity.
People who struggle financially may find it difficult to perform well academically. On top of tuition fees and living expenses, learners require funds for textbooks, learning materials, stationery, and many other things. Due to financial trouble, some people carry out periods of their school experience without textbooks, which may put them at a great disadvantage in the classroom.
Some people may even get to a point wherein they have to withdraw from school for a while because they can’t pay school fees or keep up with the upkeep of going to school. Your financial status could add limitations to your academic performance and lower your productivity.
Furthermore, if someone is struggling academically, they may need to explore more resources, such as extra lessons or getting the help of tutors. However, such resources require money. Your financial status will determine whether you’re able to maintain such costs, and if you aren’t, your academic performance and productivity could be hindered.
Some people are continuously travelling and migrating from place A, to place B, to place C, and so on. This means they’re continually encountering new environments with new schools, new living spaces, and a whole lot of other new things. Usually, this comes to light when a learner is living with parents who have jobs, which entails lots of travelling.
Whatever the case may be, constant migration can influence your academic performance and productivity. It could take time for you to settle into an area, or even settle into a new environment. Different schools approach academics in different ways, and a constant changing of academic environments could create anxiety surrounding a learner's academic future. It could also create a good level of confusion and ignite a feeling of constant need to catch up.
Not every school runs through a syllabus in the exact same order, and, so, you may encounter things that you haven’t done before. As a result, your academic performance may be affected. Constant migration could also be mentally draining for a learner.
One could develop mental health issues surrounding a lack of stability, a continuous changing of friends, and various other things. Stability may contribute to putting your mind at ease and allowing you as a leaner to participate with a clearer mind, rather than a mind that’s constantly wondering which academic environment lies ahead of it next month when one has to move.
6. Classroom EnvironmentThere are many aspects to a classroom environment. There are teachers, students, books, sense of creativity, and atmosphere. A certain cohesion should arise from all the aspects of a classroom, existing in harmony. The classroom is one of the primary areas of a student’s academic growth and development. A student’s participation in the classroom and how they navigate it could reveal certain levels of academic performance and productivity.
A classroom is the primary learning environment of a student. It may be hard for a student to navigate other academic environments if they’re struggling within the classroom space. A classroom environment influences your academic performance and productivity though three things: attendance, study time, and concentration.
Your classroom attendance reveals that you maintain a good interest in learning and being a part of a particular academic space. Attending classes on time and well-prepared could indicate that you’re open to improving your academic space and are having a good attitude towards your academics. There are many reasons for being late, however, if tardiness becomes a common occurrence, it could indicate a lack of interest, eventually contributing towards poor academic performance.
Concentration is essential in the classroom. Depending on the work you’re covering, missing something could be a huge setback for you. Concentration makes it easier to grasp concepts, and, thus, makes assignments easier to deal with. Students who avoid unnecessary communication in the classroom, daydreaming, or doing unrelated activities during classes may be more likely to develop good academic performance and productivity. Concentration makes it easier to sustain study time, because you’ll be able to create time for mastering a concept rather than re-learning it.
Teachers are also an important part of the classroom environment. A teacher who creates an environment wherein children would feel free to learn or ask questions, or comfortable with seeking help may be more likely to achieve better academic performance. A classroom wherein a teacher regulates a feeling of fear may leave students feeling scared to ask questions or confront academic problems. Teachers may need to find some balance with regard to maintaining good discipline while creating an inclusive classroom environment that’d promote academic productivity.
7. Group Of Friends Or Community
Your community could have great influence on your academic performance and productivity. Sometimes, when you spend a good amount of time with certain people, you may start to adopt their behaviors, particularly their attitude toward academics. If you surround yourself with friends that don’t work hard or that are uncomfortable with offering help to one another, then this may hinder your academic performance and limit your academic productivity.
It’s also important to create some friends with common academic interests compared to you. For example, you could join a group for people who love mathematics if you’re interested in mathematics, or join an engineering society if you’re studying towards an engineering degree. It’d be beneficial for you to get involved with groups with common academic goals as yours; for one, they could be an easy channel to seek academic help or advice.
Your friends and your community should propel you forward academically. Even friends outside of your degree should do occasional check ins on your academics or look out for resources if they feel you’re in need of any. Communities and friends may often put pressure on you, but it’s important that you’re able to translate how you’re feeling so that the people around you may be able to assess the best possible channels for academic productivity.
You may have the best teacher that you could ever ask for, but your school as a whole could be the reason for your academic downfalls. Schools have different departments, and if these departments are falling short, even good teaching may not be sustained. For example, some schools struggle to provide resources, such as libraries, computers, textbooks, or other resources that could be beneficial when approaching standardized exams and tests.
The lack of such resources limits the academic productivity realms of the teachers, and, thus, limits the academic productivity of the students as well. Schools should also be able to acknowledge mental health issues and other student problems. They should be able to acknowledge the reality of such issues, as well as be able to offer ways to help or improve such conditions. This may allow for a more comfortable learning environment that promotes academic growth through regulating mental health awareness.
Schools should have anti-bullying, anti-hate, or anti-discrimination policies put in place. People come to school to learn and broaden their minds. When someone is burdened by bullies and discrimination, their learning experience could be interrupted and affected. Schools should be aware of the effects that discrimination, bullying, and isolation have on academic productivity. Thereafter, they should actively look for ways to counter such acts, thereby promoting a smoother learning path for all students.
Academic Performance And Productivity Is Possible
Despite the evidence of having numerous factors that influence academic performance and productivity, this doesn’t mean it’s unattainable. Schools, homes, and classrooms may need to look for ways to facilitate cohesive, inclusive, and productive learning spaces. It’s important to acknowledge that as much as teachers or parents experience stress and various burdens, so do students. It’s through the ground of understanding and open learning that the world may move towards better academic performance and boundless productivity.
