Adult Students Personalities and Behaviours towards Examinations: A Study of Universiti Sains Malaysia’s (USM) Distance Education Students

This article presents a study to measure some personality styles among adult distance education students. In particular, these aspects refer to their expressional, emotional, intellectual, interpersonal, working and religiousness traits. The purpose of the study is to see how these traits vis-a-vis their demographic data contribute to their attitude towards examinations. Mailed self-rating questionnaires were used as to collect information from the respondents. The findings of this study showed that most adult distance education students of USM possess personality traits that contribute towards their well-being and success. Some of the personality traits are correlated with their behaviour toward examinations. Their interpersonal style and religiousness showed a moderate correlation with examination motivation and strategy. Lastly, their work and emotional styles show a weak correlation with examination preparations.