I KNOW ILL GET AN A - CONFIDENT OVERESTIMATION OF FINAL COURSE-GRADES

Undergraduates enrolled in advanced courses in psychology estimated th eir final course grades at the beginning of the semester. Estimates we re collected before students received information about instructors' r equirements and grading practices. Students were grouped by their cumu lative grade point averages (GPAs) from the previous semester. Differe nces were observed in estimated and actual grades earned. Low-GPA subj ects showed the greatest overestimation of their final grades. Althoug h high-GPA students did not significantly overestimate their grades, a lmost 50% of their estimates were overestimate. Confidence ratings wer e also collected. High-GPA students were significantly more confident about their estimates than were low-GPA students, perhaps indicating t hat low-GPA students possessed some awareness that their estimates wer e inaccurate.