Predictors of the Perceived Difficulties of Senior High School Students’ in Elective Mathematics
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Abstract
Elective Mathematics, currently, is one of the important subject requirements for admission into attractive programmes such as medicine, engineering, business, statistics, mathematics, actuarial science, economics, business administration, and architecture, among others in tertiary institutions in Ghana. However, greater proportion of the country’s senior high school students are “maths phobic.” Therefore, this paper attempted to identify and model the socio-demographic variables that influence students’ perceived difficulties in the subject. The study was conducted among 100 randomly selected students from two senior high schools in the Krachie East District of the Volta Region using both primary and secondary data. The Chi – square test, Odds ratio and Fisher’s exact model was employed in the SPSS statistical software. The study concluded that respondents’ programmes of study, ethnicity, and mothers’ highest educational levels were significant predictors of their perceived difficulties in Elective Mathematics.
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