Background

Students' motivation and ways of engaging in their schoolwork are important for their performance, including passing exams. Attendance at learning activities has also been argued to be of major importance, although no causal relationship with passing exams has been established in nursing education.

Objectives

The aim of this study was to describe the impact of attendance at nonmandatory learning activities on attainment, in terms of passing or failing of exams, in nursing education courses including both mandatory and non-mandatory activities.

Design

A prospective quantitative design.

Setting

The nursing education programme at a Swedish university.

Participants

Nursing students (n = 361) from two courses and four classes within the nursing programme.

Methods

Attendance was registered at every non-mandatory teaching activity by asking the students to note their attendance on a list. Data such as sex, age, and whether the students had passed the exam were also collected for each course and each semester separately.

Results

Increased participation was associated with an increasing proportion of students passing the exam. The chance of passing the exam increased by 13% for every additional learning occasion attended. Logistic regression showed an OR of 5.4 for an attendance of 100%.

Conclusions

An increase in attendance gave a higher proportion of exam passes. Encouraging students to attend non-mandatory learning activities could be of value, and potentially contribute to an increased graduation rate for nursing students.