Revisiting the Role of Worries in Explaining the Link Between Test Anxiety and Test Performance

Abstract

The inverse relationship between test anxiety and test performance is commonly explained by test-anxious students’ tendency to worry about a test and the consequences of failing. However, other cognitive facets of test anxiety have been identified that could account for this link, including interference by test-irrelevant thoughts and lack of confidence. In this study, we compare different facets of test anxiety in predicting test performance. Seven hundred thirty university students filled out the German Test Anxiety Inventory after completing a battery of standardized tests assessing general intelligence and mathematical competencies. Multiple regressions revealed that interference and lack of confidence but not worry or arousal explained unique variance in students’ test performance. No evidence was found for a curvilinear relationship between arousal and performance. The present results call for revisiting the role of worries in explaining the test anxiety-performance link and can help educators to identify students who are especially at risk of underperforming on tests.

Development, Validation, and Evidence of Measurement Invariance of a Shortened Measure of Trait Test Anxiety

“…Physiological arousal refers to an automatic and bodily set of sensations (Joiner et al, 1999). Worry refers to the set thoughts regarding failure and its consequences of it (Liebert & Morris, 1967;Schillinger et al, 2021;Spielberger & Vagg, 1995). Cognitive interference occurs when negative beliefs about performance intrude on one's ability to concentrate (Eysenck & Calvo, 1992).…”

The relationship between test anxiety and pre-service teachers’ performance in quantitative research methods

“…Also, test anxiety affects academic achievements negatively at any educational level [34]. There is a broad consensus empirically in the literature that test anxiety is strongly linked to poor academic performance [35], [36] extrapolated and reported that 20% of American students suffered lower academic performance due to test anxiety. Similarly, prevalence rate of test anxiety has been estimated around 20-25% of tertiary students' worldwide [37].…”

Examining the Relationship between Substance Use and Test Anxiety among Students in a Public University in Nigeria

“…There are distinct but related notions on what constitutes test anxiety in the literature and existing measures of test anxiety differ in their conceptualisation of its facets. However, these conceptualisations usually centre on three dimensions: cognitive, emotional/physiological, and behavioural (see Schillinger et al, 2021 andUgwuanyi et al, 2020 for a review).…”