Students’ Competencies, Least Mastered Topics, and Performance in Mathematics in the Modern World

Abstract

Students are expected to develop competencies in mathematics that integrate knowledge, skills, and values. Exhibiting these competencies in mathematics is one of the goals of mathematics education. Despite the efforts of the teachers to make students learn and acquire competence in the subject, difficulties are still encountered by the students. This descriptive-correlational research was conducted at Capiz State University during the Second Semester, School Year 2023-2024 to assess the level of acquired competencies, least mastered topics, and performance of first-year college students in Mathematics in the Modern World. Data were gathered using valid and reliable questionnaire, and were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results of the study revealed that first-year college students generally had a high level of acquired competencies in terms of knowledge, skills, and values. However, there were topics identified as the least mastered topics namely, logic, sets, inductive and deductive reasoning, measures of dispersion, probability, and correlation. Students had an average level of performance in the subject. The acquired competencies by the respondents were significantly related to their performance. This implies that the higher the competencies acquired by the students, the higher the probability of getting high performance.