Just How Effective is the Mathematics Diagnostic Test and Follow-up Support Combination?
Peter Edwards, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, UK
The article, for which this is the abstract, appears in Journal of Teaching Mathematics and its Applications, 16(3), pp.118 - 121 ISSN 0268-3679
Abstract
Traditionally, most student failures on engineering undergraduate courses occur at the end of the first year and are inevitably due to the more analytical subjects such as Science and Technology, Mechanical Science and, especially, Mathematics. Many universities try to accommodate mathematically weaker students using the Diagnostic Test/Follow-up Support combination. This report compares the results of a mathematics diagnostic test given to first-year undergraduate Design and Technology students during their induction week with the end-of-year examination results and, for one cohort, the final-year degree classification. Whilst some outcomes were predictable, some anomalies surfaced that encouraged the author, and so should encourage others, to investigate the nature and worth of the support given to mathematically weaker students.