University courses contain student learning outcomes (SLO) based on the material presented during the semester. Traditional assessment artifacts provide feedback to the student and instructor as to whether those SLO are being met. Students often fail to acknowledge the link between assessment and the SLO, as they often focus on content and assessment success. Other than assessment scores, instructors sometimes struggle to determine if the SLO are being met. To evaluate students’ perceptions of achieving the SLO, students (n = 683) enrolled in an undergraduate introductory animal science course were evaluated through pre- and post-course assessment to determine their perceived level of achievement. Each statement was linked to a SLO and each SLO was linked to a topic of the course. Questions on the exams were linked to a specific SLO and the success rates of answering the questions correct were calculated. Results indicate that students increased (P<0.05) their perceived ability to meet all SLO by the end of the course and perception was correlated to success rate of answering questions correctly. Students’ perceptions of learning should be considered when designing the content of a course and can provide a means to assess whether SLO have been met.