The Indigenous Peoples of Central North Nicaragua and the labyrinths of ethnic self-identification.

Research conducted in the subjects of Economic Sciences taught at UNAN-FAREM-Matagalpa, 2017-2019

Abstract

This research focused on the ability of pre-exam performance as a predictor of final performance in Economics courses taught at the Economics, Marketing and Business Administration degrees of the Regional Multidisciplinary Faculty of Matagalpa, National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, Managua (UNAN-FAREM -Matagalpa) in the 2017-2019 period. This research included the groups of classes taught between the first semester of 2017 and the first semester of 2019, that is, five semesters. In total, 20 class groups were analyzed in three Majors (General Economics, Business Administration, and Marketing) and four different shifts (morning, evening, night, and Saturday) and 11 subjects. These 20 courses added 445 students in total. The data to be analyzed are based on the actual results of the grades obtained by the students in the analyzed period. For this, a matrix was prepared in which the points obtained in each work, systematic and exam, were collected for each student included in the study. With these data, three central analysis variables were estimated: pre-exam performance, final performance, change in performance. Other data were collected that allowed a detailed analysis of the information collected such as the subject, the semester, the school year, the Major, the shift, and the gender of the student. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, regression analysis and analysis of variance. The results indicate that pre-exam performance is a good predictor of final performance and can be used to track students performance. On the other hand, the results revealed that, on average, the students obtained a final performance of 67 points. This indicates that, in general, students should improve their study habits to improve their performance.