The Incidence of Overconfidence and Underconfidence Effects in Medical Student Examinations

The small proportion of our students exhibiting overconfidence or underconfidence behaviors moderates the need for educational interventions. Nevertheless, promoting prudence in individualized students manifesting overconfidence, and trust in those reporting significant underconfidence could increase the reliability of medical judgment during their future professional life. Overconfidence in individuals with lower scores in examinations may depend on a ceiling-like effect, since worst ranked students have a wider upper margin to manifest their confidence perceptions. The most confident students showed higher scores in examinations than the less confident ones. From this point of view, confidence could be considered an essential ingredient of success in examination performance.