Australian Journal of Adult Learning - Expectations and reality - What you want is not always what you get

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jasmine

The study examines how first-year Principles of Economics I students’ grade and course expectations relate to the grades they actually receive. Using surveys conducted before lectures and again mid-course, then comparing responses with final grades, the research tests whether expectations differ significantly from outcomes and identifies student characteristics and attitude/behaviour changes that may explain any gap. Results indicate students are overoptimistic, with optimism not fully translating into actual performance.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages23

Reading Time58 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Methods

Collection of data

Australian Journal of Adult Learning Volume 54, Number 2, July 2014 Expectations and reality: What you want is not always what you get Arlene Garces-Ozanne Trudy Sullivan University of Otago A total of 196 first year Principles of Economics I students participated in a study examining how students’ expectations about their course and grades are related to the grades they actually receive. We empirically test whether there is a significant difference between the students’ grade expectations and the actual grades they receive, and examine what factors contribute to this difference. In particular, we examine how much students’ expectations about their grades are conditioned by specific student characteristics, as well as by their attitude/behaviour over the semester. We hypothesise that students, like many from Generation Y, often make confident but also false predictions about their ability, but as reality sets in, they modify their behaviour accordingly and set more reasonable, realistic expectations to achieve their desired goals. We find that they are indeed overoptimistic, but there appears to be a gap between their optimism and actual performance. Expectations and reality: What you want is not always what you get 79 Keywords: Gen Y, undergraduate students, expectations, optimism, behaviour, grades Introduction Worldwide, there is much interest in exploring the attitudes and behaviour of Gen Y (i.e., Generation Y, those people born between the early 1980s and the late 1990s), who tend to embrace technological change, accept diversity and exhibit over-confidence in what they can achieve (Campbell et al., 2004; Twenge, 2009; Kopp and Finney, 2013; Anderson, Halberstadt & Aitken, 2013). Many students of this generation typically exhibit a sense of entitlement and expect high academic grades because they “tried” and/or because they paid fees, instead of accepting a grade based on their actual performance (Twenge, 2009; Singleton-Jackson, Jackson & Reinhart, 2010). There are also those who tend to demand a lot more time and energy from professors, for example, requiring immediate attention to emails, and are more selfconfident questioning and appealing grades they receive (Lippmann, Bulanda & Wagenaar, 2009; Baer, 2011). The idea that many students believe that they are above-average and consequently have very optimistic and overconfident expectations about what they can achieve, is however, not the main issue. Having a high self-esteem is not necessarily bad. In fact, in many cases, positive self-assessments are harmless and could actually help in achieving one’s goals. What we find interesting, and what we want to explore in this paper, is the apparent disconnect between students’ positive self-views and their actual performance. In this study, we examine the expectations and attitudes of a group of predominantly Gen Y university students to find out whether they possess an elevated view of their abilities and whether, when confronted with reality, they adjust their behaviour to reach their goals. Our methodology involves surveying a group of students enrolled ina first year paper at the University of Otago. We survey the students before lectures begin and again mid-way through the course. Using this information, together with their final grades, we test whether there is 80 Arlene Garces-Ozanne & Trudy Sullivan a significant difference between what the students expect to achieve and what they actually achieve. We also examine whether students change their attitudes and behaviour once they become familiar with the course and its requirements. In line with this objective we explore the characteristics of two types of university students – specifically, optimistic students and realistic students. For the purposes of this study, we define optimistic students as those students who expect to receive a higher grade than what they actually receive; and realistic students as those students whose expected grad

FAQs

What is the main question of the study?

The study tests whether students’ expectations about their course and grades differ significantly from the grades they actually receive, and what factors contribute to that difference.

How is the data collected?

An online questionnaire surveys 1288 first-year Principles of Economics I students at the University of Otago before lectures begin and again mid-way through the course.

What key finding about expectations and performance is reported?

Students are found to be overoptimistic, and the gap between optimism and actual performance appears to remain.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jasmine