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Topic: 5. What do you believe are the chief reasons for students`academic failure in college?

Essay plan

Essay topic: Main reasons behind academic failure and how it can be prevented?

Thesis statement: The main reason behind academic failure turns out to be not sufficient level of knowledge and motivation of the students.

Introductory paragraph:
#1 study-related issues;
#2 economic and life related issues;
#3 failure of the education system;

Example paragraph 1: explaining study related issues
#1 students` accademic preparation is not sufficient;
#2 lack of motivation and self-discipline
#3 lack of learning habits;

Example paragraph 2: explaining economic and life related issues;
#1 poverty; economic unequality;
#2 combining studing with work
#3 unexpected circumstances: death of loved ones, health issues, etc.

Example paragraph 3: failure of the education system;
#1 a lot of material covered in short period of time;
#2 not enough exercises;
#3 not motivated teachers and lecturers;

Conclusion
#1 motivation
#2 self-discipline
#3 habits



Essay
Main reasons behind academic failure and how it can be prevented?

Students who graduate from school and want to advance their skills choose university as their next step in education. However a research made by Stanford University in the USA shows that only 60% of all students who applied graduate from the academic institution chosen by them. 40% of those get their diploma in the predicted time (4-5 years time depending on the chosen study) and the remaining 20% finnish their studies in 10 years time. That means that 40% of all students who applied experience academic failure and can not make it to the end. The same research shows that the main reason behind academic failure turns out to be not suffiecient level of knowledge on one first place and lack of motivation on the second. On the next positions come economic and life related issues and failure of the education system.

According to the research the major reason behind academic failure is study related issues. Most of the freshmen share that they do not feel prepared enough academicly for the first year in college. Their level of knowledge is below the expected minimum and as a result many of them can not keep up with the lectures. Another reason that has major impact on the academic success or the lack of it is the level of motivation of the students. Many of them do not set high goals and high expectations for themselfs and as a result they are satisfied with the minimum. In high school the teachers do not teach them learning habits, so a big percentage of the students end up with poor habits and lack of self-discipline. A famouse quote says: "Motivation gets you started, habits keep you going".

Economic and life related issues also influence the academic performance of students. In fact this group of factors comes on second place in the research about academic failure conducted by Stanford University. Poverty and economic unequality put a lot of presure on the learners. Some choose to get advantage of the offered study loans to cover their living and study related costs. Others prefer combining studing and working but it is not as easy as it sounds. Doing both can result in lack of time for the needed preparation in order to pass the exams which will eventually result in academic failure. And life is not only sunshine and rainbow, sometimes unexpected things happen like death of a family member or seriouse health issues. Those situation can destroy the balance in ones life and this can also result in academic failure.

The final and the least important reason for academic failure according to the same research is the failure of the education system. This result is surprising because in the daily conversations students always blame either the university teachers or the university itself. The main argument showing that the educational system has problems is that a lot of material and lectures are covered in too short period of time and students do not have enough time to study it and ask questions if needed. Another point is that the exercises given are not enough. Some students share that the teachers and lecturers sometimes have to give the same lecture multiple times in one day and as a result they lose motivation and just want to finnish the lecture as fast as possible and students can not understand the material well in class.

In conclusion the research made by Stanford University revealed very useful insights about the reasons behind academic failure. Students honestly share that the lack of good preparation and motivation are the main reasons for their lack of success, however the economic and life related issues and the failure of the education system should not be neglected as a reasons. Improving one`s motivation and self-discipline, developing good habits should be the secret for overcoming most of the issues connected to academic failure.

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