The difficulty of 548 sections of 55 courses taken by 2906 freshmen during their first two quarters at a university were examined in light of the influence of these sections on student attrition, and long-term and short-term grades. Approximately 18% of the courses (sections) were identified as difficult, and 18% were identified as easy. The difficulty of courses taken by students during these terms was found to influence long-term grades and attrition through their influence on short-term grades.
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