There have been few studies on students’ difficulty in the computer studies curriculum of African senior secondary schools. This study attempts to fill this gap by investigating the concepts students find difficult in the Ghanaian and Nigerian computer science curriculum and the influence of students’ career interests on these perceived difficult concepts. The study is important to the extent that our understanding of “where the shirt tights” regarding topics difficulty will guide teachers, students, secondary schools’ managers, and governments in applying applicable remediating measures. The study sought to establish (a) the concepts that students perceive to be difficult in the computer studies curriculum in Ghanaian and Nigerian schools and (b) if there is a statistically significant relationship between students’ career interests and perceived concept difficulty in computer studies. Anchored on cognitive constructivism theory of Piaget, a quantitative method was employed with the sample (N = 1776). The study reports computer basics and evolution, programme development cycle, managing computer files, Developing problem-solving skills, computer ethics and human concerns, Networking, Logic circuits, Machine language, flowcharting, Algorithm and arithmetic logic unit as perceived difficult concepts. The study also found a negative statistically significant relationship between students’ career interests and perceived concept difficulty in the Ghanaian and Nigerian computer studies curriculum. Various remediating measures have been preferred.

非洲高中计算机学习课程中学生难度的研究较少。本研究试图通过调查学生在加纳和尼日利亚计算机科学课程中发现的困难概念以及学生职业兴趣对这些感知困难概念的影响来填补这一空白。这项研究很重要，因为我们对主题难度的“衬衫紧身衣在哪里”的理解将指导教师、学生、中学管理者和政府应用适用的补救措施。该研究试图确定 (a) 学生认为在加纳和尼日利亚学校的计算机学习课程中难以理解的概念，以及 (b) 学生的职业兴趣与计算机学习中感知到的概念难度之间是否存在统计学上的显着关系。以皮亚杰的认知建构主义理论为基础，对样本采用定量方法（N  = 1776)。该研究报告了计算机基础知识和进化、程序开发周期、管理计算机文件、培养解决问题的技能、计算机伦理和人类关注点、网络、逻辑电路、机器语言、流程图、算法和算术逻辑单元作为感知困难的概念。该研究还发现，在加纳和尼日利亚的计算机研究课程中，学生的职业兴趣与感知概念难度之间存在显着的负统计关系。各种补救措施已成为首选。