Relationship between CA and Examination Scores for First Year Biology Students at Mukuba University

Assessment of student learning at Mukuba University is achieved through both continuous assessment (CA) and final examination. These assessments are conducted during and at the end of the academic year, respectively. One of the most widely debated issues in biology education is the relationship between students’ CA scores and their corresponding final examination scores. Against this background, this study aimed to determine whether a relationship exists between CA and final examination scores of first-year biology students at Mukuba University. The study employed a correlational research design. The sample comprised 309 participants for the original study and 360 students for the replication study. Pearson’s product-moment correlation was used to analyze the data for both the original and replication studies. The analysis revealed a positive and significant correlation between CA and final examination scores at the 0.01 level of significance for both studies. Furthermore, the effect size of the relationship between the variables was large—averaging 0.83—indicating that integrating CA into lecturers’ daily teaching has the potential to improve students’ performance in the biology final examination. Notably, both the original and replication studies produced consistent results, confirming the reliability of the findings. Based on these results, it is recommended that lecturers incorporate biology CA as outlined in the course outlines.