Whether a change in dental students' attitudes toward three preselected concepts would occur as a result of a traditionally difficult dental education course as measured by the semantic differential method is determined. This study attempted to determine the predictive value of a student's attitudes in determining his/her final grade. The sample consisted of 89 first year dental students who took a 200 hour gross anatomy class. Instruments consisted of a semantic differential pretest for attitude assessment, an identical posttest, and cummulative midterm and final examinations. Three concepts chosen to assess students' attitudes were: "gross anatomy,""dental education," and "myself." The statistical treatment of the data employed factor analysis, paired t tests, and multiple regression analysis. Results indicated: (1) that students' attitudes toward the anatomy course and themselves did not change significantly, but that a significant negative change did occur in their attitude toward the dental educational experience as a whole; and (2) that students' attitudes toward specific concepts can be successfully employed to predict a portion of their final grade using the semantic differential method. (Author/RL)