Test Anxiety in Autistic University Students—Preliminary Results from a German-Speaking Sample

Abstract

Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition associated with increased levels of anxiety. However, whether autism is related to heightened test anxiety as one situation-specific type of anxiety has not yet been examined. This question may be relevant for the achievement and well-being of autistic people in educational settings (e.g., at universities). In this study, we took a first step to investigate whether autistic university students have increased test anxiety. A sample of 16 German-speaking university students completed an established diagnostic instrument to measure test anxiety and its components of worry, emotionality, cognitive interference, and lack of confidence. The scores of the autistic students were compared with the test anxiety means and percentile ranks of the standardization sample for the applied test anxiety measure (n = 1350). For an additional comparison, the test anxiety means and percentile ranks of non-autistic university students (n = 101) were assessed during the last third of the semester; that is, close to the examinations. Overall, the results suggest that autistic university students have remarkably increased test anxiety. Although the present findings must be considered preliminary, they suggest that text anxiety in educational settings may be a neglected significant problem for autistic people that requires further attention in research and practice.

Neurodiversity and cognitive load in online learning: A focus group study

“…Focusing their attention was a common challenge across neurotypes, with mentions of internal distractions (not being in the mood for studying, inherent difficulties in maintaining concentration) and external distractions (background noise, being distracted by people around them). While “distracted learning” is not new, it is thought to be exacerbated in online learning [ 60 , 61 , 70 ]. However, neurotypical students predominantly attributed those difficulties to the online learning environment itself, while neurodivergent students tended to discuss these difficulties in relation to individual traits that might hamper their ability to focus.…”

“…Both neurotypical and neurodivergent students reported experiencing stress in online learning, though the stress seemed more targeted around exams for neurotypical students and more diffuse for neurodivergent students. Though research is limited, neurodivergent students are indeed thought to experience significantly higher anxiety around exams [68][69][70].…”