Journal for Educational Research Online (JERO): Issue 1/2026, 18. Volume Skills Help, but They Don’t Help All at Once

Despite substantiated knowledge on study-relevant skills predicting academic achievement, it remains open whether the importance of study-relevant skills changes after the first year of study. In order to investigate this issue, the relationship of study-relevant skills and student stress, study satisfaction and dissatisfaction with study conditions was analyzed in a repeated-measures design of N = 144 teacher training students studying in their first and third year at university. Comparisons show that the relevance of study-relevant skills differed significantly over time for student stress and study satisfaction, but not for dissatisfaction with study conditions. Most notably, over time the importance of cooperation declined, whereas coping with stress and procrastination gained relevance. Implications for curricular planning, student instructions and student counselling are discussed.

Keywords
Teacher training student, first-year student, study-relevant skills, study satisfaction, student stress