Do gaps between students' grades and goals cause them to study more and improve their marks?

What is it about?

Students' actual grades in a course often fall below the targets they had originally set for themselves. We found that when those grade gaps were larger, students were more likely to react in two ways: they would plan to study more before the exam and they would actually get higher exam marks. However, the studying plans and higher marks did not go together. Students with more growth-oriented mindsets tended to have the greater studying intentions, whereas students with stronger academic abilities tended to get the higher exam marks.

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Why is it important?

Student success depends partly on ambition and partly on ability: the first helps you set the goal, the second helps get you achieve it.