Self-estimation of Scholastic Ability and its Relationship to Academic Success of Freshman Students at South Dakota State College

This study was conducted to investigate the use of college students’ self-estimates of scholastic ability in the prediction of academic success. The objectives of the research involved the analysis of grade achievement and drop-out percentage of students who estimated their abilities accurately as compared with those who made inaccurate estimates of their abilities. This research indicates that students cannot or do not wish to register accurate estimations of their scholastic ability on a rating scale. The more able student tends to underestimate his potential, the lesser able student to consistently overestimate his ability. The majority of the group estimated their abilities as average. Self-estimate of scholastic ability does not appear to have a significant relationship to academic performance. Students achieve at a level which tends to compare with their own estimates of scholastic ability. Higher achievement was found among high-ability accurate-estimators and average-ability over-estimators