Nursing students are challenged to think and impart in ways that will prepare them for practical work in a complex healthcare environment. Metacognition ability refers to an individual’s knowledge of his thinking allowing them to design their thinking properly. In addition, high self-efficacy enhances students' accomplishment and personal well-being since students with high assurance in their capabilities approach difficult tasks as challenges to be mastered. Aim: To explore levels of nursing students’ metacognitive abilities and academic self-efficacy and their relation to role-transition as perceived by them. Design: Descriptive correlation design was utilized. Setting: The study was conducted at Faculty of nursing, Benha University. Subjects: simple random sample of 4th year nursing students who enrolled in nursing administration department in the first term of academic year 2020/2021, the final number of sample size was 214. Tools: Three tools were used for data collection as follows; Metacognitive ability scale, Academic self-efficacy scale and Modified Perceptions of role transition questionnaire. Results: Less than two thirds of nursing students had high level of metacognitive abilities, more than half of them had high level of academic self-efficacy and less than half of nursing students had moderate level of perception regarding their role transition. Conclusion: There was a highly statistically significant correlation between levels of metacognitive abilities and academic self-efficacy, and a highly statistically significant positive correlation between levels of academic self-efficacy and perception of role-transition. However, there was no statistically significant difference between total level of metacognitive abilities and total level of perception of role- transition. Recommendations: Implementing learning strategies that promote nursing students' development of metacognitive abilities. Also, faculties should provide an orientation program for preparing nursing students regarding role -transition.