Identifying the predictors of academic achievement: The relationship between IQ, EQ, Motivation, Stress and Grades

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the relationship between grades, intelligence, motivation and test-related stress while identifying the predictors of academic achievement. The research also included two hypotheses: 1. IQ, EQ and Motivation will have a positive correlation with academic achievement; 2. Test-related stress will have a negative correlation with academic achievement. Methods: 93 participants from various universities, backgrounds and courses were selected using an opportunistic sampling technique. The participants took part in four online questionnaires, an IQ test, the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (Short-Form) (Petrides and Furnham, 2006), Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich et al., 1991), and the Test Anxiety Questionnaire (Nist and Diehl, 1990). Results: A Pearson’s correlation test demonstrated that the results agree with both hypotheses. While a multiple regression analysis revealed that IQ scores is the only statistically significant predictor of academic achievement. Conclusion: Applications of these results are discussed in light of previous research while relating to theory, limitations and future research. Further analyses revealed interesting results regarding self-efficacy, stress and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, these findings and their implications are also discussed