An investigation of the reasons for test anxiety, time spent studying, and achievement among adolescents in Taiwan

Testing the Uncertainty-of-Stress Model: Developing the Adolescent Uncertainty Scale for Taiwanese Adolescents

“…The same may be true in the context of education. Chao and Sung (2019a) and Sung et al (2016) have both demonstrated that students who are unclear about the future enrollment, that is, they are unclear about their further studies, have greater test anxiety. In summary, the two classification methods of uncertainty in this study were designed according to classifications of objects and causes as internal or external, and four dimensions for uncertainty were proposed.…”

“…Sung et al (2016) mentioned that middleachieving students were more uncertain about whether they can enter public or private schools, which caused them to have greater test anxiety. Chao and Sung (2019a) further determined that among the causes of test anxiety in middleachieving students, the proportion for "unable to further their education in public schools" was higher than that for high-achieving and low-achieving students. Therefore, junior high school students who feel more uncertain about the future may tend to feel greater test anxiety.…”

“…Test anxiety is a long-term stress response of students those facing to a standardized test (Chao & Sung, 2019a), including the state of physiological anxiety and negative thoughts about tests (Stöber, 2004), and the perceptions of social expectations and social comparisons (Sung & Chao, 2015). Most relevant studies have regarded test anxiety as cause and academic achievement as result.…”

“…Sung et al (2016) further indicated that middle-achieving students in Taiwan have the highest test anxiety, and this phenomenon cannot be fully explained by the aforementioned models. Therefore, the uncertainty-tostress model (USM) may explain the inverted U-shaped phenomenon (Chao & Sung, 2019a;Sung et al 2016). In USM, test anxiety is regarded as an outcome, where the degree of test anxiety may be associated with the level of uncertainty students perceived (Fig.…”

“…Some researchers have argued that students' test anxiety is caused by high levels of uncertainty (Sung, Chao & Tseng, 2016). Chao and Sung (2019a) went further by indicating that students with medium achievement have greater test anxiety. When asked why they were feeling anxious, the students said they were worried "I won't be able to get into a state school" and "I'm not meeting my own standards."…”