Freshman student perceptions on intrapersonal skills required for their academic success

Abstract

Intrapersonal skills include the ability to accommodate authority and regulate emotions, which includes two key factors; namely, time management and motivation. The purpose of this article is to present freshman engineering student perceptions on what they think is personally required to achieve academic success when considering these two factors. A time-lag study (2016-2018) is used to gather quantitative data from 626 freshman engineering students using an on-line assessment. Results indicate that students need a study plan at the start of a semester, and they need to create a routine time and place to study as part of their time management skills. 83.6% of the students indicated that their academic success would depend on their own attitude that is related to motivation. A potential challenge to the academic success of these freshman students would be in satisfying their physiological needs. These perceptions may help academics identify more appropriate student support mechanisms that they can suggest at the start of a semester in addition to the disciplinary knowledge of the module that they will share with their students.