What assumption do first-year students make about final-year students?

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First-year students assume final-year students have everything figured out
A few weeks into campus life, first-year students may start to feel that the campus routines are no longer unfamiliar. At that point, they often make the assumption that final-year students already have everything worked out. The illusion is that other people know what they are doing, even though most are still figuring things out as they go.
New intake settles quickly, but the “everyone knows” illusion starts
Early on, pre-university students arrive on campuses like Universiti Malaya feeling unsure, needing phone maps to find lecture halls and even hesitating over basics like ordering lunch. After a few weeks, they know class locations and which bus routes are reliable in the rain, and tutorial groups and WhatsApp groups are active. From the outside, it can look like everyone is settled.
Confidence is mistaken for certainty and competence
The material describes how it is easy at this stage to confuse confidence with certainty, and certainty with competence. Students who ask questions in class may appear confident, while those who talk about future careers may seem certain. Senior students may look like they know where they are going, and lecturers may appear to have everything under control.
The specific assumption is that final-year students have “everything figured out”
The text states directly that a first-year student assumes final-year students have everything figured out. It also notes a similar pattern in other transitions, where final-year students assume working adults know exactly where their careers are heading. In all cases, the person making the assumption is comparing their own uncertainty to someone else’s visible confidence.
The underlying point is that most people are still learning
It emphasises that most people are figuring things out as they go, not recklessly and not aimlessly, but by learning and adjusting with the information they have at the time. It also explains that certainty is rarer than it appears, even for lecturers, class representatives, deans, and professors. The key idea is that uncertainty changes form, but it does not fully disappear.

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What assumption do first-year students make about final-year students?

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