Analysis on the relationship between student grades and computer programming time in learning the C programming language

The C Programming Language is one of the most popular teaching programming languages. It is generally considered that the computer programming time that a student spent on his homework directly affects his grade of the C Programming Language. There is little research regarding the correlation of students´ computer programming time and their test grades. The computer programming time, grades of final test and the Zhejiang Computer Grade Test Band II (ZCGTBII) of students from a teaching class are collected. The students are divided into two groups based on their programming time. The T-Test is employed to analyze grades of final test and the ZCGTBII of the two groups. Analysis results show that the mean and the passing rates of final test and the ZCGTBII of Group I are greater than those of Group II. Therefore, we conclude that the amount of time students spend practicing programming on computers plays a very important role towards mastering the C Programming Language.