Evaluation of the scholastic performance of students in 12 programs from a private university in the south-west geopolitical zone in Nigeria

Cumulative grade point average (CGPA) is a system for calculation of GPA scores and is one way to determine a student's academic performance in a university setting. In Nigeria, an employer evaluates a student's academic performance using their CGPA score. For this study, data were collected from a student database of a private school in the south-west geopolitical zone in Nigeria. Regression analysis, correlation analysis, and analysis of variance (F-test) were employed to determine the study year that students perform better based on CGPA. According to the results, it was observed that students perform much better in year three (300 Level) and year four (400 Level) compared to other levels. In conclusion, we strongly recommend the private university to introduce program that will improve the academic performance of students from year one (100 level).

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Introduction
Grade Point Average (GPA) and Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) are two concepts usually made mentioned in the education domain and they signified the diverse systems of awarding undergraduates' scores based upon their educational performances in their different subjects (Quora, 2019). GPA is computed by summing the total scores and then divide by the credits hours offered by the student. CGPA is the average of the GPA of a particular student which he had acquired in an institution in the courses he had offered. It is also computed by summing the scores acquired by students and then dividing by the computation of his overall credit units. GPA is normally computed in a distinct semester while CGPA is computed for the all-inclusive period of a program in an institution and for students to acquire a good CGPA, the good GPA in all the years must have been obtained by students (Quora, 2019).
In the white-collar job market now, there is high competition among young graduates. Academic performance is one indicator that highlights university students' qualification and this is mostly measured using the cumulative grade point average (CGPA). Most employers use CGPA to screen out candidates searching for jobs, and candidates with a higher CGPA are selected (Yogendra & Andrew, 2017). Therefore, the performance of students (Oladele et al., 2019) in universities should be a concern not only to administrators and educators but also to corporations in the labor market.
Students have to place greater effort in their study to obtain a good grade in order to fulfil the demands of an employer and this makes academic achievement the main factor considered by employers in the recruitment of workers, especially newly graduated students (Yogendra & Andrew, 2017). The objective of the present study is to determine the study year that students perform better academically across 12 programs in a private university in the south-west geopolitical zone in Nigeria. This study observed that there are few references on the impact of GPA on students' overall performance and that was the gap filled in this study.

Literature review
Cullen et al. (1996) shows that students' tertiary academic performance is not influenced by their gender. Erdem et al. (2007) tried to establish which social-economics and demographic factors have effects on students' cumulative grade point average. The authors surveyed at Gaziosmanpaşa University and the targeted population were grade four students. They found out that factors such as the high school a student graduated from, sex, parent's academic level, and the reading period influence the grade point average of undergraduates. The study of Soto & Anand (2012) shows that student attendance and GPA had significant effects on student performance. Mlambo (2012) opined that gender, age, learning preferences and entry qualification did not cause any significant variation in the academic performance of a student. Rajandran et al. (2015) considered the influence of age, sex, race, post-secondary level result and place of origin on the academic performance. 2013/2014 year one students of the University of Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Administration was the case study. One hundred students were sampled using cross-tabulation and multinomial logistic regression. Results revealed that the effect of gender and place of origin are insignificant while students' entry qualification have significant effects on the CGPA of the year one students. Foen et al. (2016) examined the influence of time used among students to educational accomplishment. The authors observed that the time exhausted on unrelated school undertakings has a negative relationship with CGPA. Fadelelmoula (2018) revealed that lecture attendance affects undergraduates' performance.

Methods
Primary data was extracted from Covenant University's student database (John et al., 2018). The dataset contains the cumulative grade point averages (CGPA) from the first to the fourth year of study and the overall CGPA of students.
IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM 20) was used to analyze the data of the scholastic performance of students in 12 programs at the College of Science and Engineering within the year 2010 to 2014. The statistical methodology includes regression analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and descriptive statistics (Lukman et al., 2018).
Approval to use the data was obtained from the Ethical Committee of Landmark University, which is affiliated with Covenant University.

Results
A total of 12 programs were assessed, which included 2490 students. The frequency distribution of the number of students who attended the twelve (12) programs and their graduation years are depicted in Table 1 and Table 2, respectively. The descriptive statistics are provided in Table 3. The results show that the mean performance of all the students at each of the level is not too different from each other. Figure 1 shows a histogram of the cumulative CGPA of students for the years 2010-2014. The distribution of the data is skewed to the right which shows that a high number of the students have a CGPA that is between 2 and 5. The number of students with a CGPA that is less than 2 is low.

Amendments from Version 1
To react to the reviewers' comment, in this revision, an extensive and detailed literature review was provided which demonstrates the extensive knowledge in the research as well as recognizing the existing achievements in the area. The in-text citation has been improved as suggested by the reviewers and the reason for embarking on the study was included in the introduction session. A clearer definition of GPA and CGPA was also stated in the article. Additional references used for the revisions were incorporated into version 2 of the article Any further responses from the reviewers can be found at the end of the article A strong positive and significant relationships exist between CGPA in the different level and the overall CGPA. The coefficient of determination (R 2 ) in Table 5 shows that the cumulative grade point average in each level explained about 98.1% of the variations in the response variable (the overall CGPA). The F-test shows that the overall regression model is significant (P-value=0.000<0.05). It was also observed that each of the variables has a positive and significant impact on the overall CGPA. The performance of the students in 200 level is more significant (See Table 5). The maximum variance inflation factor shows that explanatory variables are not correlated, that is there is no multi-collinearly problems (See Table 5).   Results show that overall performance of each student depends on their academic performance in each level.

Conclusion
In this report, we have analyzed the performance of students in 12 programs at a private university in Nigeria. From the various analysis carried out, it was observed that a large number of students graduated in 2013, and from the 12 programs students of electrical and electronic engineering have the highest percentage of graduate students. The descriptive statistics show that the mean performance of all the students at each of the level is not too different from each other. The performance of the student at each level is pivotal to their overall CGPA. In conclusion, we strongly recommend the private university to introduce program that will improve the academic performance of students from year one (100 level).

Data availability
Zenodo I confirm that I have read this submission and believe that I have an appropriate level of expertise to confirm that it is of an acceptable scientific standard, however I have significant reservations, as outlined above. achievements.
The final conclusions provided in the paper are not clearly formulated and correspond to the presented research results. Further steps of the performed research should also be identified by the authors.

Is the work clearly and accurately presented and does it cite the current literature? Partly
Is the study design appropriate and is the work technically sound? Partly

If applicable, is the statistical analysis and its interpretation appropriate? Yes
Are all the source data underlying the results available to ensure full reproducibility? Yes

Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the results? Yes
No competing interests were disclosed. Competing Interests:

I confirm that I have read this submission and believe that I have an appropriate level of expertise to confirm that it is of an acceptable scientific standard, however I have significant reservations, as outlined above.
Author Response 02 Oct 2019 , Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Nigeria

Roseline Ogundokun
Literature review doesn't (directly) lead to the work of this study. Authors should provide an extensive and detailed literature review, which demonstrates their extensive knowledge in the research field and the recognition of the existing achievements in the area.[s1] [Response] An extensive and detailed literature review that demonstrates extensive knowledge in this field had been attended to as advised by the reviewer.
The authors should also explain the main differences between their research and the previous achievements.
The final conclusions provided in the paper are not clearly formulated and correspond to the presented research results. Further steps of the performed research should also be identified by the authors.[s1] [Response]These have been attended to as suggested by the reviewer , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original Attribution License work is properly cited.

Citing relevant literature:
I find the in-text citations extremely scanty. The introduction which should weave the justification(s) of the study in specific terms and how it intends to attend to either a practical problem or/and a theoretical problem is inadequate. Explanations provided in the Introduction section generally addressed why "the performance of students should be of concern", not specifically why an investigation of the relationship between the study year and student grade should be conducted. Perhaps, and this should be justified in the literature, it is (a) to be able to design a level-specific intervention program that would support academic performance, (b) to serve as foundation for future studies that would identify factors that contribute to the positive or negative influence of a study level on the student grade.
There is a slight mention of this in the concluding sentence, but more emphasis on the "why this study?" should be made known at the Introduction section.
In the same vein, there should be clearer definitions of GPA and CGPA (on level basis and as overall), their relationship, probably in mathematical terms.

Design of the study, methodology and data analysis:
The concluding part of the Introduction section reads that " The objective of the present study is to determine the study year that students perform better academically across 12 programs" which best informs the choice of descriptive and the correlation analysis. Regression is therefore unnecessary because it accounts for influence of a variable on the other, and it must be with adequate attention to all latent and confounding variables.
I also did not see ANOVA, though mentioned in the methods, in the data analysis. If it would be needed, there should thorough reading of its justification and how best it suits this work. I will suggest reading Julie Pallant's Guide to Using SPSS for further insights.
Also, Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) is wrongly interpreted. Therefore, this statement "The maximum variance inflation factor shows that none of the variables is correlated" cannot be correct because (a) it contradicts an earlier statement that "A strong positive and significant relationships exist between CGPA in the different level and the overall CGPA", and (b) does not explain variance, which is square of the standard deviation, in view of understanding the variables' multi-collinearity. 1 2 1.

2.
in the different level and the overall CGPA", and (b) does not explain variance, which is square of the standard deviation, in view of understanding the variables' multi-collinearity.
Note that correlation is synonymous to relationship, and it does not mean Variance in statistical terms.

Discussion and Conclusion:
The conclusion, since it ordinarily relied heavily on the data analysis and literature cannot be said to be adequate. There are no past related studies to situate the findings of this study and establish the fresh insights it attempts bring forth. This requires a Discussion section. A better analysis and inferences would then address the concluding section.

Required corrections:
Review 5 -10 past related studies to partly support your introduction, especially the justification of the study in specific terms, and as literature to situate your findings in a discussion section.
Stick to "finding relationship", thus, descriptive correlation analyses would be sufficient. These, however, must be done thoroughly with report on data treatment and cleansing, and justification of the suitability of the statistical method.

If applicable, is the statistical analysis and its interpretation appropriate? Partly
Are all the source data underlying the results available to ensure full reproducibility? Yes

Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the results? Partly
No competing interests were disclosed.

Competing Interests:
Reviewer Expertise: Empirical methods in software engineering and information systems.

I confirm that I have read this submission and believe that I have an appropriate level of expertise to confirm that it is of an acceptable scientific standard, however I have significant reservations, as outlined above.
Author Response 02 Oct 2019 , Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Nigeria Roseline Ogundokun I find the in-text citations extremely scanty. The introduction which should weave the justification(s) I find the in-text citations extremely scanty. The introduction which should weave the justification(s) of the study in specific terms and how it intends to attend to either a practical problem or/and a theoretical problem is inadequate. Explanations provided in the Introduction section generally addressed why "the performance of students should be of concern", not specifically why an investigation of the relationship between the study year and student grade should be conducted. Perhaps, and this should be justified in the literature, it is (a) to be able to design a level-specific intervention program that would support academic performance, (b) to serve as foundation for future studies that would identify factors that contribute to the positive or negative influence of a study level on the student grade.[s1] [Response]All these suggestions have been attended to by the authors There is a slight mention of this in the concluding sentence, but more emphasis on the "why this study?" should be made known at the Introduction section.
In the same vein, there should be clearer definitions of GPA and CGPA (on level basis and as overall), their relationship, probably in mathematical terms.
[Response] These have been included in the study (manuscript) The concluding part of the Introduction section reads that " The objective of the present study is to determine the study year that students perform better academically across 12 programs" which best informs the choice of descriptive and the correlation analysis. Regression is therefore unnecessary because it accounts for influence of a variable on the other, and it must be with adequate attention to all latent and confounding variables.[s1] [Response]These have been attended to as suggested by the reviewer I also did not see ANOVA, though mentioned in the methods, in the data analysis. If it would be needed, [s1] [Response]This reflects in the regression table (F-test). The Anova in regression is used to assess the overall significance of the model. Tables 1 and 2 include a column for cumulative percent, which does not add any useful information, and can be deleted. The rightward shift in figure 1 may be explained by dismissal of students with low GPAsbut no indication of dismissal/attrition is indicated in the manuscript. The conclusion in the abstract that students perform much better in level 3 and 4 do not appear supported by table 3, and is not mentioned in the Conclusion section of the paper .

If applicable, is the statistical analysis and its interpretation appropriate? Partly
Are all the source data underlying the results available to ensure full reproducibility? Yes

Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the results? Partly
No competing interests were disclosed.

Competing Interests:
Reviewer Expertise: Medical Education I confirm that I have read this submission and believe that I have an appropriate level of expertise to confirm that it is of an acceptable scientific standard, however I have significant reservations, as outlined above.

Roseline Ogundokun
This paper describes the grade point average variances in students enrolled in a private university during a 5 year period. Analysis revealed that grade point averages were not significantly different based on program of study. The cumulative grade point average, a number derived from the grade point average in each year, was significantly correlated with each of the component year grade point averages.
Tables 1 and 2 include a column for cumulative percent, which does not add any useful information, and can be deleted. The rightward shift in figure 1 may be explained by dismissal of students with low GPAs -but no indication of dismissal/attrition is indicated in the manuscript. The conclusion in the abstract that students perform much better in level 3 and 4 do not appear students with low GPAs -but no indication of dismissal/attrition is indicated in the manuscript. The conclusion in the abstract that students perform much better in level 3 and 4 do not appear supported by table 3, and is not mentioned in the Conclusion section of the paper . [Response] [Response]All these suggestions have been attended to as suggested by the authors and the necessary revision had been made in the manuscript.
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