Assessments, Appraisals, Attributes and Attendance

Abstract

The ability to predict academic performance has been a long-standing goal for educational and psychological researchers. Drawing from the areas of stress, motivation, self-competency beliefs, and learning, the present study extends this research by focusing on precursors to academic performance. Using a multiple regression analysis, the present research evaluated the impact of expectancy, valence, perceived difficulty, threat, challenge, age, and gender on exam performance goals. Hierarchical multiple regression was then used to assess additional contributions from goals and attendance to exam grades. Participants included 156 psychology students enrolled in an intermediate level statistics class. Questionnaires were used to measure demographic, appraisal, and motivational variables. Exam grades and attendance were drawn from academic records. Performance goals were significantly influenced by perceived difficulty, expectancy, valence, threat, challenge, and age, but not gender. Both attendance and goals significantly contributed to grades, with the final regression model explaining 41% of grade variance. These findings offer support for the effects of self-competency beliefs, stress appraisals, and motivational factors on performance outcomes. One month prior to exams, negative assessments were the strongest determinants of performance goals. Performance goals may mediate the effects of some individual differences variables on grades. These results may be useful to lecturers, tutors, and researchers working to develop strategies that will maximise statistics performance.