Is perceived control a critical factor in understanding the negative relationship between cognitive test anxiety and examination performance?

Abstract

A well established finding is that the cognitive component of test anxiety (worry) is negatively related to examination performance. The present study examined how three selfbeliefs (academic buoyancy, perceived control, and test competence) moderated the strength of the relationship between worry and examination performance in a sample of 270 final year secondary school students. Participants completed self-reports of academic buoyancy, perceived control, test competence, and cognitive test anxiety, that were matched with examination grades in English, science, and mathematics. Results showed an interaction between worry and perceived control. Students with higher perceived control performed better at low levels of worry. As worry increased, the differential advantage offered by higher perceived control diminished. At high levels of worry control made little difference to examination performance. Interventions designed to reduce worry may not necessarily improve examination performance unless they also target improved control.

Achievement Motivation And Regulatory Emotional Self-Efficacy In University Students

“…The predictive effects of academic emotions on success appear to be mediated by motivation, learning strategies and self-regulation (Pekrun, Goetz, Frenzel, Barchfeld, & Perry, 2011;Davis, Solberg, De Baca, Gore 2014;Mega, Ronconi, & De Beni, 2014;Ruthig, Jones, Vanderzanden, Gamblin, & Kehn, 2017;Putwain, Aveyard, 2018). A research by Mega, Ronconi, and De Beni (2014) analyzed how students' emotions influence their motivation and self-regulated learning and these, in turn, affect academic success; it has focused on the key role of emotions in academic success and also on the key role emotions play in academic contexts.…”

Achievement emotions and academic achievement: Reciprocal relations and the moderating influence of academic buoyancy.

“…While the bivariate correlations in these studies (Collie et al, 2015;Fong & Kim, 2019;Putwain & Aveyard, 2018) were positive (rs = .10 to .15), in the presence of related variables the predictive value of academic buoyancy was reduced. This reduction of direct effects may be due to the effects of buoyancy being mediated by other variables (e.g., buoyancy bolstering perceived control, and control influencing performance in the studies by Collie et al, 2015, andAveyard, 2018). Alternatively, the reason may be construct overlap reducing the individual predictive power of buoyancy when combined with, for instance, the perseverance component of grit.…”

“…It would be useful to include additional emotions to address the question of which emotions are the most meaningful predictors of achievement, when considered together. We were somewhat limited in that the only validated measure of achievement emotions available for the age group of participants used in the present study (AEQ-ES; Lichtenfeld et al, 2012) Fourth, we speculated two reasons for the inconsistent relations shown been academic buoyancy and achievement in the extant literature; low domain specificity or mismatch between measures of academic buoyancy and achievement, and the presence of additional variables that may either overlap with academic buoyancy (e.g., grit or future time perspective; Fong & Kim, 2019) or mediate relations between academic buoyancy and achievement (e.g., perceived control; Collie et al, 2015, andAveyard, 2018). The correlations between domain-specific academic buoyancy in mathematics and students' mathematics achievement found in the present study (rs = .23 and .25) were stronger than correlations between domain-general academic buoyancy and achievement in previous studies (e.g., rs = .…”

Observations on the relationship between the dietetic objective structured clinical examination and placement outcome

“…Dietetic students use timed sessions to develop confidence in information retrieval, attainment and performance ability prior to sitting the OSCE . This may help to improve students’ perception of control and, in combination with techniques to reduce student anxiety, may help to improve performance long term . In addition, OSCE briefings allow students to become familiar with the process.…”

“…27 This may help to improve students' perception of control and, in combination with techniques to reduce student anxiety, may help to improve performance long term. 28 In addition, OSCE briefings allow students to become familiar with the process. These measures may have contributed to the downwards trend in student-reported stress levels with the dietetic OSCE over the last 3 years.…”