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Two questionnaires were presented (national evaluation by the Ministry of Education in France, DEPP) to 31,120 students in grade 6 of the French “collège” (11.6 years): a questionnaire referring to self-efficacy (SE) and a motivation questionnaire referring to the self-determination theory (SDT). PCA confirms the three principal factors concerning the SEP: school SE, self-regulation, and social SE. PCA of motivation’s items produce three factors corresponding to intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation. The correlations reveal a reconciliation between the theories of Bandura (SEP) and Deci and Ryan (perceived competence) because the school SEP is correlated in a continuum with the forms of motivation (including amotivation). The perceived competence (or school SEP) is the best predictor of cognitive/school tests. Among the forms of motivation, amotivation is associated with the poorest scores on all tests.