Self-efficacy and academic performance

The aim of the present study was to examine the predictive effectiveness of self-efficacy in an academic setting. Seventy-six postgraduate students co mpleted a questionnaire to assess efficacy expectations toward competencies perceived to underpin performance on the course. As there was a 13-week di fference in time between completing the self-efficacy questionnaire and com pleting the performance criterion, it was considered important to assess th e stability of self-efficacy measures. To this end, participants completed the same items one week later. Test-retest reliability results indicated th at efficacy to cope with "intellectual demands", "pass first time", and "ac hieve a specific grade" were relatively stable. Performance was assessed us ing end of the semester grades. Regression results showed that "self-effica cy to cope with the intellectual demands of the program" predicted 11.5% of performance variance. Given that there was a 13-week time gap between self -efficacy and performance and that the complexity of the task was high, fin dings from the present study suggest that self-efficacy has some utility in an academic setting.