When Perception Is Not Reality: Misalignment Between Self-Reported Metacognitive Ability and Academic Performance in University Students

Metacognitive skills – awareness and regulation of one's own cognitive processes – are widely theorised to play a role in academic success. This study investigates the relationship between metacognitive qualities and academic attainment in Engineering and Data Science students at a UK university. A total of 132 students across four degree programmes completed a survey consisting of adapted versions of the Self Reflection and Insight Scale (SRIS), the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI), a Subjective Social Comparison of Academic Performance (SSCAP) measure, and demographic questions. Contrary to theoretical expectations and prior findings, no associations were observed between academic grades and either SRIS or MAI outcomes. Bayesian post-hoc analyses were conducted to further study the relationship between grades and Knowledge of Cognition and Regulation of Cognition, as measured by MAI subscales. We found substantial evidence in favour of the null hypotheses (BF01 = 7.9; BF01 = 9.0). However, SSCAP scores were strongly associated with academic performance (ρ = 0.510), and moderately with MAI sub domains (ρ = 0.335, ρ = 0.340, all ps<0.001). T To our best knowledge, these findings are first to show evidence for no association between academic achievement and measures of metacognitive knowledge and regulation. Further, these findings suggest that while self-reported metacognitive skills may not directly predict academic grades, students' subjective academic self-concept may serve as a more sensitive indicator of academic performance. Our findings further complicate the narrative between metacognition and academic attainment.