First-Year Engineering Students’ Strategies for Taking Exams

Student drop-out is one of the most critical issues that higher educational institutions face nowadays. The problem is significant for first-year students. These freshmen are especially at risk of failing due to the transition from different educational settings at high school. Thanks to the massive boom of Information and Communication Technologies, universities have started to collect a vast amount of study- and student-related data. Teachers can use the collected information to support students at risk of failing their studies. At the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, the situation is no different, and first-year students are a vulnerable group similar to other institutions. The most critical part of the first year is the first exam period. One of the essential skills the student needs to develop is planning for exams. The presented research aims to explore the exam-taking patterns of first-year students. Data of 361 first-year students have been analysed and used to construct “layered” Markov chain probabilistic graphs. The graphs have revealed interesting behavioural patterns within the groups of successful and unsuccessful students.