Motives and methods: Motivation, learning approaches, and academic achievement of students during first year transition to medical school

The transition into the first year of medical school can be challenging for many students. Students may have difficulty adjusting their learning strategies in the fast-paced, high stakes medical school environment. Medical students may also experience changes in their expectations and motivation for learning in the medical school learning environment. The purpose of this study is to identify approaches to learning and motivational factors reported by students and how these relate to academic achievement outcomes as the students transition through their first year of medical school.;This study had three overarching goals. First, this study explored the learning approaches reported by the students, how these strategies change over the course of the first year, the correlation between these approaches and academic achievement outcomes, and whether there are differences among underrepresented groups determined by age, gender, and ethnicity. The second part of the study focused on the motivation of medical students in the areas of achievement goals, self-efficacy, task value, test anxiety, and self-regulation strategies, how these variables related to overall academic performance, and whether differences exist among groups of underrepresented students.;The findings indicated that students shifted to decreased alertness to assessment, desire to achieve, self-monitoring, but increased in rote memorization strategies and fear of failure. Effective time management, organizational strategies, and desire to achieve were most significantly related to achievement, and deep and surface learning approaches were inversely related to achievement. Underrepresented minority students, particularly Hispanic and African-American students were most at risk for adopting rote memorization strategies and experiencing higher levels of fear of failure, which appeared to impact exam performance. Recommendations for admissions, curricular innovations, and student support are described.