The present study examined the effects of anticipated achievement feedback on students' semantic processing on the neural level, using event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Participants (N = 79) anticipated either self-referential or normative achievement feedback regarding an announced upcoming test. Additionally, their performance expectations (low vs. no expectations) were orthogonally manipulated. Subsequently, students' on-line semantic processing was assessed by measuring the N400 cloze effect, a component in the EEG signal of which the amplitude is associated with semantic processing. Within the low performance-expectation condition, no effect of anticipated feedback on semantic processing was found. Within the no-performance-expectation condition, participants anticipating self-referential feedback showed a more widely distributed N400 cloze effect than participants anticipating normative feedback. The results confirmed the hypothesis that the mere expectation of a particular type of feedback can affect students' semantic processes.