Students' Academic Self-Perception

45 Pages Posted: 27 Sep 2007

See all articles by Arnaud Chevalier

Arnaud Chevalier

University College Dublin (UCD) - Institute for the Study of Social Change; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Stephen Gibbons

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - Department of Geography and Environment

Andy Thorpe

University of Portsmouth - Faculty of Business - Department of Economics

Martin Snell

University of Portsmouth - Faculty of Business - Department of Economics

Sherria Hoskins

University of Portsmouth

Date Written: September 2007

Abstract

Participation rates in higher education differ persistently between some groups in society. Using two British datasets we investigate whether this gap is rooted in students' misperception of their own and other's ability, thereby increasing the expected costs to studying. Among high school pupils, we find that pupils with a more positive view of their academic abilities are more likely to expect to continue to higher education even after controlling for observable measures of ability and students' characteristics. University students are also poor at estimating their own test-performance and over-estimate their predicted test score. However, females, white and working class students have less inflated view of themselves. Self-perception has limited impact on the expected probability of success and expected returns amongst these university students.

Keywords: test performance, self-assessment, higher education participation, academic self-perception

JEL Classification: I21, J16, Y80

Suggested Citation

Chevalier, Arnaud and Gibbons, Stephen and Thorpe, Andy and Snell, Martin and Hoskins, Sherria, Students' Academic Self-Perception (September 2007). IZA Discussion Paper No. 3031, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1017507 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1017507

Arnaud Chevalier (Contact Author)

University College Dublin (UCD) - Institute for the Study of Social Change ( email )

Belfield
Dublin 4
Ireland
+353 1 716 4616 (Phone)
+353 1 716 1108 (Fax)

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Schaumburg-Lippe-Str. 7 / 9
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Stephen Gibbons

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - Department of Geography and Environment ( email )

Houghton Street
London, WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom
[44] (0)20 7955 6245 (Phone)
[44] (0)20 7955 7773 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.lse.ac.uk/people/s.gibbons@lse.ac.uk/

Andy Thorpe

University of Portsmouth - Faculty of Business - Department of Economics ( email )

Portsmouth PO4 8JF
United Kingdom

Martin Snell

University of Portsmouth - Faculty of Business - Department of Economics ( email )

Portsmouth PO4 8JF
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://www.port.ac.uk/departments/academic/economics/staff/title,7170,en.html

Sherria Hoskins

University of Portsmouth ( email )

University House
Winston Churchhill Avenue
Portsmouth, Hampshire PO1 2UP
United Kingdom

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