**1.1 Academic performance**

There are many studies that address AP in higher education, universities need to understand the possible reasons for the academic dropout of their students and thus have elements that facilitate institutional academic management. Most studies on the subject focus on determining the factors that influence AP, [3] point out that many studies that address AP posit that a student's academic performance is directly related to a set of inputs available to the student, such as: context, cognitive competencies and psychological characteristics.

In the study developed by [4] it is indicated that, according to the literature review, it has been shown that students enrolled in higher education studies drop out and do not complete the courses in which they had enrolled for several different reasons that can be very diverse and range from intelligence to personality and absenteeism. Duque et al. [5] pointed out that personal results are the best determinant of university students' dropout and [6] introduced in the analysis of the AP of higher education students, that absenteeism (absence of the student in academic spaces or academic activities) leads to low AP.

Holgado et al. [7] indicated in their study on AP the existence of the relationship between self-concept and AP, pointing out that there are many investigations that have found a significant relationship between these two variables. Eccles, (2005), cited by [8], defines self-concept as "the perception of an individual based on selfknowledge or experience and is formed through interaction with the environment and behavioral attributes". For students to achieve a good self-concept, it is important that they participate in early academic activities in order to achieve their first academic results. In this sense, the present study aims to analyze the influence of the initial academic activities or the first weeks of study on the students' final AP.

### **1.2 Initial academic activities and academic performance**

Incoming students, in the initial weeks of the semester or year, depending on the first academic results, make "intuitive predictions" [1] of the probabilities they have of passing the subjects, at the end of the semester or course [9, 10]. In these first weeks, mainly, the newly arrived student experiences a reaction that is fundamental for his academic future [11], he, instinctively, makes an assessment of his own possibilities and limitations, for that exercise, they have as main and perhaps only factors the academic self-concept [12, 13] and their very short-term results or

*Influence of Initial Study Activities on Final Academic Performance – An Analysis… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99804*

academic self-efficacy [14]. The measurement or assessment exercise, positive or negative, that the student performs, in the dim light of the results of the first weeks, has direct implications on attitude, being able to mark the performance of the end of the academic period and its integration [15, 16], at least in the short term.

Instinctive reactions are characteristic of human beings, in this case, the student, due to the results of the first weeks, which perhaps are not as expected, may experience, even if only temporarily, lack of confidence and lose control over their academic future [12], the stress generated by not achieving the results in the short term determines the study dynamics of the entire semester or year, influencing AP and the decision to stay or drop out of the career [11, 17].

People, feel aversion to losses [2]. In this case, for the student, failing a subject is a very painful event that can negatively mark the course of his or her university career [17]. If the student can perform well in all stages of the formative process, mainly in the critical first weeks, they will achieve their short-term goals [17] and academic performance will be the lighthouse that allows them to stay the course and have a positive attitude towards academic achievement [18]. The university must offer the best learning experience, so that the student is properly integrated. Johnstone et al. [19, 20] talk about the importance of students having a positive experience that encourages them to continue, especially, in the complex first weeks at the beginning of the semester or year, time in which students at high risk of academic underachievement can be identified and provided, proactively, with support to improve academic performance at the end of the semester [21].

#### **1.3 Academic performance model**

Simulating the movements that academic performance (AP) has throughout the semester (*ti*) or year of study, is the main objective of the proposed model presented in **Figure 1**. Hypothetically, the case is established of a University that has four moments (*i* ¼ 0, 1, 2, 3, 4Þ in which it measures academic performance (*APi*), the moments as time are evenly divided and it is expected that in each of them the student reaches the qualitative and quantitative objectives proposed in the academic planning.

The scenarios that were constructed made it possible to evidence the ideal behavior that students should have in order to achieve an AP level between the

**Figure 1.** *Behavior of academic performance in a semester.*

minimum to promote (*AP*3) and the maximum established (*AP*4). In the first case, the students who achieve the maximum of the performance ð Þ *AP*0*t*<sup>0</sup> ð Þ *AP*4*t*<sup>4</sup> , are grouped together, they in each measurement have 100% of the grade; the second case, are the students who did not perform academic activity or had zero in the first measurement, ð Þ *AP*0*t*<sup>0</sup> ð Þ *AP*4*t*<sup>4</sup> , at the end of the semester they can only aspire to 75% grade, minimum established - hypothetically - to pass the subject. In the two established segments, the grades of the students who are likely to pass should be moved. If we assume that most of the students have a behavior that, from the beginning of the semester, is projected to reach at least the minimum AP that allows them to pass the course, the third scenario was constructed with the segment ð Þ *AP*0*t*<sup>0</sup> ð Þ *AP*4*t*<sup>4</sup> . The projection line, at time *t*1, constructs point B, which is the minimum AP for the student to be likely to pass the subject. Students who in the first measurement (*t*1) meet the condition AP > B will have the probability of passing the course. Point B, by similarity of triangles - "Thales' Theorem" - is proportionally equal to the minimum established for passing the subject *AP*3, namely, B is equal to 75% of the grade established in *t*1.

Based on what has been described, it was established as the main hypothesis that: The student who in the first measurement *t*<sup>1</sup> of the *AP*<sup>1</sup> have results that are equal to or higher than 75% of the grade have the highest probability of passing the subject, this because projects positively and is confident that will have the academic achievements raised in the planning of the subject.

$$\text{Model 1}: Y\_i = \delta\_0 + \delta\_1 X\_i + \mu\_1 \tag{1}$$

$$\text{Model 2} : \ln\left(\frac{P\_A}{P\_R}\right) = \delta\_0 + \delta\_1 X\_i + \mu\_1 \tag{2}$$

$$\text{Model 3} : \ln\left(\frac{P\_A}{P\_R}\right) = \delta\_0 + \delta\_1 D\_1 + \mu\_1 \tag{3}$$

Where:

