Students’ Cognitive Test Anxiety and Secondary School Examination Performance: Moderating Effect of Gender and School Sector

Despite a bulk of research in international context investigating the relationship of cognitive test anxiety with students’ academic performance, little work has yet been done in this area on samples of students in Pakistan. This correlational design study was, therefore, conducted to examine the relationship between secondary school students’ cognitive test anxiety and their examination performance in educational context of Pakistan and to ascertain how the direction and/or strength of this relationship may be moderated by students’ gender and their school sector. Data were collected on students’ cognitive test anxiety, total obtained marks in SSC examination and obtained marks in English along with students’ gender and school sector from 1712 mixed ability students enrolled in year 11 in 91 public and private institutions. Both the descriptive and inferential statistical techniques (i.e., Mean, SD and Independent samples t-test) along with Pearson’s R correlations and hierarchical multiple regression were performed to analyze the data. Results depicted that female sample students reported higher level of cognitive test anxiety in comparison to their male counterparts. Results also suggested a small but significant negative effect of cognitive test anxiety on students’ examination performance and that student cognitive test anxiety component accounted for 10% of variance in their examination performance. Results further revealed that the magnitude of relationship between students’ cognitive test anxiety and examination total point scores do not change much for the moderating variables and these variables accounted only for 3% of variance. The magnitude of moderating effect, however, found to be somewhat stronger in the school sector in comparison to students’ gender.

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

School Psychology Quarterly ◽

10.1037/spq0000183 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 33 (1) ◽

pp. 65-74 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

David W. Putwain ◽

Ben Aveyard

Keyword(s):

Test Anxiety ◽

Perceived Control ◽

Negative Relationship ◽

Critical Factor ◽

Cognitive Test ◽

Examination Performance ◽

Cognitive Test Anxiety

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Brief Mindfulness Meditation Based Stress Reduction Programme in Controlling Examination Anxiety of Secondary School Students

International Journal of Indian Psychology ◽

10.25215/0302.183 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Arjunan, N. K ◽

Joxy Joseph

Keyword(s):

Secondary School ◽

Test Anxiety ◽

Stress Reduction ◽

Early Onset ◽

Substance Dependence ◽

Mindfulness Meditation ◽

School Students ◽

Anxiety Test ◽

Intense Fear ◽

The Relationship

The relationship between anxiety and impaired academic performance has been well documented by a number of investigators (Tyron, 1980; Hill & Wigfield, 1984; Topp, 1989; Sud & Sharma, 1990; Zeidner, 1990; Zoller & Ben-chain, 1990). Everyone should feel somewhat anxious before they begin to take a test. Anxiety becomes a problem when it begins to interfere with a student’s ability to think logically or remember facts. Examination anxiety (test-anxiety) is a common and frequently debilitating condition characterized by intense fear of evaluation in performance situations (Jefferys, 1997). It has an early onset (Otto et al., 2001) and regularly precedes other anxiety, mood, and substance dependence disorders (Lampe et al.,. 2003). Examination anxiety is associated with significant distress and functional impairment in both work and social domains (Lochner et al., 2003) and typically persists unless treated (Clark & Wells, 1995). The early onset of test-anxiety .magnifies its impact, including increased school dropout (Van Ameringen et al., 2003), poor social integration, and increased comorbid psychopathology (Lampe et al., 2003).

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Investigation of the Relationship between Science Burnout Levels and Test Anxiety of Secondary School Students According to Some Variables

Sakarya University Journal of Education ◽

10.19126/suje.550936 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 171-183

Author(s):

Namudar İzzet Kurbanoglu ◽

Berrin Nur Zor ◽

Sefa Yüce

Keyword(s):

Secondary School ◽

Test Anxiety ◽

Secondary School Students ◽

School Students ◽

The Relationship

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An Investigation into the Relationship between Secondary School Students’ Self-Learning Using Technology and Test Anxiety

International Journal of Education and Literacy Studies ◽

10.7575/aiac.ijels.v.9n.4p.61 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 61

Author(s):

Hatice Gülmez Güngörmez

Keyword(s):

Secondary School ◽

Test Anxiety ◽

Secondary School Students ◽

Pearson Correlation ◽

Spring Semester ◽

School Students ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Learning With Technology ◽

The Relationship ◽

Self Learning

This study aims to investigate the relationship between secondary school students’ self-learning with technology and test anxiety. The study was conducted using a correlational survey model. The participants of this study are made up of 128 students of 7th and 8th grade, studying in three secondary schools in Adıyaman province of Turkey in the spring semester of the 2019-2020 academic year. “The Self-Directed Learning with Technology Scale for Young Students” adapted to Turkish by Demir and Yurdugül (2013) and “Test Anxiety Inventory” adapted to Turkish by Öner (1990) were used for collecting the data. Independent groups t-test and Pearson Correlation test were used to analyze the data. The analyses showed no significant difference between self-learning of secondary school students using technology regarding their gender and grade. However, there was a significant relationship between the students’ grades and their test anxiety. The “test anxiety inventory” consisted of two subscales, “delusion” and “affectivity”. There was a significant difference between students’ delusion and affectivity subscales. In this consideration, the 8th graders had a higher test anxiety than the 7th grader’. The Pearson correlation indicated that there was a positive and significant correlation between self-learning using technology and test anxiety of the secondary school students (p<.01).

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