Cognition, anxiety, and prediction of performance in 1st-year law students

Two models to predict academic performance using ability, affective, and co gnitive variables were evaluated using students in their 1st year of law sc hool. Participants were assessed before the beginning of classes and prior to and immediately following 2 anxiety-arousing Ist-year academic milestone s: a final exam and an oral argument. In the path analysis for the exam mod el, only the Law School Aptitude Test was predictive of performance. Trait anxiety predicted self-efficacy for cognitive control, which predicted thou ghts, which in turn predicted state anxiety. State anxiety, however, did no t predict exam grades. In the oral argument model, a clear path of signific ant predictors could be traced from communication apprehension to self-effi cacy for affective control, to state anxiety, and finally to oral argument score. Thus, different processes appear to operate in each of the 2 academi c tasks. The implications of the results for law school education and futur e research are discussed.