ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN BASIC INORGANIC CHEMISTRY ACCORDING TO SEX: A HISTORICAL ANALYSIS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Abstract

This study aimed to compare the academic performance of students classified as female and male in a Basic Inorganic Chemistry course within an undergraduate Chemistry program. This documentary, retrospective, descriptive, and quantitative study was based on academic records from the State University Vale do Acaraú, covering 20 academic semesters between 2015.2 and 2025.2. A total of 411 records were analyzed, of which 181 (44.0%) were classified as female and 230 (56.0%) as male based on the students' first names recorded in the database. Final mean grades were 4.34 for the female group and 4.18 for the male group. Female students also showed slightly higher mean scores in AP1 (4.26 vs. 4.10), AP2 (4.63 vs. 4.48), AP3 (4.16 vs. 4.14), and the final assessment (5.09 vs. 4.94). The approval rate was 53.6% among female students and 47.8% among male students, representing a difference of 5.8 percentage points. The female group therefore showed numerically higher academic performance, although differences in mean scores were small and descriptive. The findings should be interpreted considering the multifactorial nature of academic performance and the limitation associated with inferring sex from first names.