Do Students Know How Much They Know?

Abstract:     
I use data for 331 students who, combined, took 2,230 quizzes in an introductory statistics class. I compare the actual quiz scores with students' post-test predictions of what their scores would be to study how well the students can judge their own performance. I find that (1) self-evaluations are biased upward, (2) better students predict their scores more accurately, (3) self-evaluation accuracy is worse when the material is difficult, (4) there is compelling evidence that students improve their self-evaluation accuracy over time (5) on an individual level, students self-evaluation errors are persistent.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 27

JEL Classification: A2, A22, A29

working papers series