Everyone wants an A - but will they even get a C?

This paper reports the preliminary results of a year long study in which university students' learning goals, learning strategies, attempted grades and perceptions were investigated. The study sought to describe changes and identify relationships of these variables for students enrolled in their first year of study. Results challenge assumptions that these variables are stable in adult learners. Students' learning goals, use of some learning strategies, attempted grades, and perceptions of themselves as learners and their units of study decreased during the first semester but not during second semester. Relationships were identified between learning goals and learning strategies but not between learning goals, perceptions and attempted grades.