Analysis reveals most failed courses at East Carolina University

An analysis of grades issued at ECU since 2006 reveals the top 10 most failed courses are all mathematics or logic based with fail rates between 24 and 35 percent.

Sophomore level class Algorithmic Problem Solving and Programming Laboratory is the most failed course from the analysis conducted with readily available Registrar’s office data. Fail grades were awarded to 34.5 percent of the 550 students who have taken the class since 2006.

Computer science teaching instructor Bobby Hoggard has taught the introductory programming course for 10 years and said the findings were “not surprising.” “[Students] have to be able to solve problems logically and not everybody who signs up for the course has a logical mind,” he said. “You can’t teach someone to have a logical mind that doesn’t have one, but if you have one then it can be developed.”

A senior computer science student, Samuel Scott, admits computer science is hard at first. “It’s very new to a lot of people and unfortunately with programming it’s all right or it’s all wrong. If it doesn’t work it doesn’t work so they can’t give you a grade, even if you were close,” he said. 

Although compulsory for computer science majors, the significant number of non-majors electing to study the course may be linked to the finding, said Hoggard. “[Algorithmic Problem Solving] is a class that is very important for our majors to understand, however, you do not have to be a computer science major in order to take the class,” he said. Students often take the course “because they think computers are cool and they really have no idea what they’re getting into when they decide they want to do something with them,” he said.

The drop out rate is varied, said Hoggard, with some students realizing their struggles early and swapping majors while others elect to repeat the course. Those who “retake it generally will make get a better grade the second time,” said Hoggard. Other students act early against poor grades and utilize tutoring services by graduate students at the on campus computer science labs.

Alternatively, philosophy professor Dr. Richard McCarty said mathematics based Introduction to Logic is taken by students who have already failed mathematics classes and require a general education mathematics class to graduate. “It’s not surprising that many of these students would find the course as difficult as their math courses,” McCarty said. However, students with high mathematics proficiency also take course for general humanities credit, he added. “The challenge for an instructor in this course is to provide content that is stimulating for math students but not too challenging for others,” he said.

Many professors declined to comment on the results although McCarty provided a breakdown of grades for the five years he’s taught Introduction to Logic. His grade book data demonstrated the analysis findings are not representative of all sections, with his classes, totalling only 237 of the 642 students since 2006, having a failure rate much lower at 13.5 percent.

A driver education course was actually ranked highest with a 46.2 percent failure rate, although it was eliminated from the ranking because non-degree seeking students regularly enroll in the class.

The analysis eliminated classes with an average annual cohort of 20 students, that is, classes with fewer than 100 students in five years.

Rank	Course code	Name	% Fail grades	No. of F grades per total course enrolments
1	CSCI2310	Algorithmic Problem Solving	34.5%	190/550
2	MATH3229	Elementary Statistical Methods II	32.5%	39/120
3	CSCI2300	Computer Science Survey	31.7%	39/123
4	CSCI2427	Discrete Mathematical Structures	30.3%	112/370
5	MATH1085	Pre-Calculus Mathematics	29.4%	113/385
6	CSCI3300	Introduction to Algorithms and Data Abstraction	29.3%	61/208
7	ICTN2530	Network Environment II	29.3%	129/440
8	PHIL1500	Introduction to Logic	26.2%	168/642
9	BITE3311	Financial Information Systems II	25.7%	48/187
10	MATH1083	Introduction to Functions	24.3%	164/676