The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between course experience, students' approaches to learning, effort, ability and examination grade, and to examine aspects of construct validity in the present versions of the Course Experience Questionnaire and the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students in a sample of 206 undergraduate psychology students. The results showed that course experience, students' approaches to learning and ability were significantly correlated with examination grade, whereas effort was not. Structural equation modelling showed that a surface approach mediated the relationship between course experience and academic achievement, whereas ability remained an independent predictor of achievement. These findings indicate that both ability and approaches to learning have considerable independent effects on academic achievement, and that the students' perceptions of the learning environment are important sources of approaches to learning. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)