e-bilities features one of the most significant advances to be made in testing in recent times - the assessment of how well a person monitors or judges their mental abilities.

Simply speaking, we can categorize people in one of three ways on this aspect of thinking.

Some people are under-confident in their mental abilities. They underestimate their ability and mistakenly believe they are wrong when they are right in answering questions.

There are also realistic people who have an accurate insight into their abilities - they tend to know when they're right and when they're wrong.

Then there are the over-confident amongst us, including those who have blind faith in their abilities. These people grossly overestimate their capacities and will put forward incorrect solutions to problems, with high confidence that they are right and others are wrong!

Self-monitoring of abilities is of great practical relevance. People who overestimate their abilities and mistakenly believe they have the correct answers to problems, may take greater risks than people who accurately appraise their abilities and decisions.

A person's perception of their own accuracy in completing tasks may also influence the degree to which they check their work for errors, and seek help and clarification in areas where they lack expertise.