Mr. Antonio has been teaching for many years, and he has come to the conclusion that by the end of the first month of school, he already knows enough about the students' academic abilities that he can predict their final grades. Mr. Antonio can best be described as having:

a. a fixed mindset about the students as learners.
b. low self-efficacy for his ability as a teacher.
c. no extrinsic motivation to help his students succeed.
d. optimistic but realistic expectations for student performance.