Test Anxiety And Academic Performance

A standardized test is an examination that is scored in a prearranged manner; there are two main standard tests, aptitude and achievement tests (Ascd). Aptitude tests predict how well students are likely to perform in an educational setting, and achievement tests are what the school board looks at to base schools’ success (Ascd). As these tests become more difficult and the number of test continue to increase, so does test anxiety and it’s many factors (Gotter). Stressing and worrying over performance on a test, affects students from kindergarten all the way up to PhD students (Gotter). Several components occur when testing situations are at play, such as experiencing intense fear, nervousness, and sometimes even bordering terror (Zuriff p.198). Those who have this setback sometimes consider themselves as “bad test-takers.” There are three causes for them to panic when testing

To address this phenomenon, researchers have proposed different theories of test anxiety to account for the effects of test anxiety on the deficits of academic performance. According to scholars such as Schmidt and Riniolo (1999), the cognitive aspects of test anxiety - worry and task-relevant thinking - are also present in social anxiety. Therefore, students who experience test anxiety may also suffer from other types of psychological and cognitive problems such as self-esteem, cognitive development, social skills and memory. Essentially, the students who suffer from test anxiety are individuals who are unable to cope with any types of stress. Considering the stressful nature of

test anxiety, which is triggered by the strenuous conditions of the tests. Tight muscles, trembling,

Test anxiety is defined as "A fear of failing that you feel before or while taking an important examination, that prevents you from performing as well as you otherwise could on the exam," according to yourdictionary.com. The website mentalhelathy.com, a survey conducted by ChildLine states that 96% of the students surveyed felt anxious or pressured, skipped meals, had problems sleeping , and 14% even drank alcohol because of standardized testing. This is in no way healthy for students. This stress can cause students to perfom poorly on a tes that they know the material for. If students experience test anxiety on a test that determines whether they graduate or move on to the next grade, then the chances of them passing are significantly

School Standards and Testing Everyday, schools all over America are pushing students to the brink of insanity. They are giving many quizzes and tests, along with anxiety and sleep deprivation. Teachers have very high expectations, leaving students to worry about keeping their grades up. Meanwhile, students have to juggle with five to seven different classes, learning new material for each class, keeping up with sports and other after-school activities, studying each night for tests, etc.

Anxiety is a very common disorder when it comes to students in school. There are various types of anxiety, one common example is test taking anxiety. Test taking anxiety is a nervous feeling that students have while taking a test, and sometimes before or after taking the exam. This makes it impossible for students to do their best and to show their knowledge. When students are under stress it causes them to have physical symptoms, such as sweating or rapid breathing. Students who aren't prepared for tests, but care about doing well are also likely to have test anxiety before taking any type of test. Supporters argue standardized tests effectively measure student achievement, and opponents argue that tests are good for measuring students’ performances.

However, standardized tests having such a major impact on students’ placement adds stress and pressures students to focus on memorizing things rather than actually learning them. This pressure causes students to be stressed and anxious. Alfie Kohn affirms that, “the more that anxiety is likely to rise and the less valid the scores become.” Tests are causing anxiety in students to rise, resulting in test scores being an “inaccurate” measurement of students’ knowledge. These test are not an accurate form of measurement, as some people may think. Kohn acknowledges that, “These tests care only about whether the student got the right answer..” These tests overlook the steps students took to get to their answer, so it is not known whether students had no idea about the answer or if they were close to the answer (Kohn, 5). Standardized tests should not be a major focus on students’ academic career so students’ can focus on learning skills rather than being

Test anxiety is a huge problem for many student. Several students in my class are much smarter than their test

Based on the example of Juanita, there are strategies that could be used to help reduce her anxiety that she is experiencing due to having to take a math test. Test anxiety can negatively affect Juanita’s academic performance on the test so it is important for the counselor to be able to provide her with strategies that can help her to cope with the anxiety (Parsons, 2007). Different strategies to help Juanita could include teaching coping skills, study skills, and relaxation techniques (Capuzzi & Gross, 2014; Parsons, 2007). Also, to normalize the strategies the counselor can provide guidance lessons for all students using the same relaxation techniques and provide an overview for teachers and parents so that the same techniques could be used

While perfectionism has been investigated in various contexts, the university environment is one of the most relevant (e.g., Suddarth & Slaney, 2001). Perfectionists excessively value their personal achievements, so it would be assumed that testing situations might result in significant distress. Following this, test anxiety can be conceptualized as a disposition to react with increased anxiety in the face of situations that are related to tests and performance-related contexts (Hodapp, Glanzmann, & Laux, 1995). Accordingly, a number of studies showed that test anxiety was related to perfectionist students (e.g., Bieling, Israeli, Smith, & Anthony,

The purpose of this research is to examine perceptions of student test anxiety in elementary school.

This research will discuss test anxiety and what it is and how to cope with it when taking a big examination for work or school. Don't feel that anxiety is unique to you as it's not, just about everybody gets it.

The points of view that I see in my sources vary widely. For instance, according to Andrews & Wilding (2004) anxiety actually plays no role in the test performance by students. Whereas, in an article by Blood (2015) she discusses the percent of students who are worried that test anxiety is affecting their grades, and how they deal with it, rather than discussing the effects anxiety actually has on grades. I did discover a flaw of logic in this article, not necessarily with the writing or her way of thinking, more-so with the students’ way of thinking. She claims that students are worried if they don’t

Tet anxiety is a very common thing among American students, especially for those whore are in higher education. This type of anxiety causes psychological tension that students experience before taking test. In the moment of test anxiety students have a strong feelings of failure that is followed by panic and stress pressure. Apparently many studies have showed that test anxiety often causes students to perform worse on the exam. "Test anxiety: Why it is increasing and 3 ways to curb it" by Valerie Strauss and " Anxiety, Self-Efficacy, and College Exam Grades" by Jennifer Barrows, Samantha Dunn, Carrie A. Lloyd are popular and scholarly articles that discuss test anxiety in US higher education and how it disadvantages students.

Tests cause anxiety, however, I've never met a person that has not felt their heart race from the anticipation. If it severely impedes a student from taking a test;, many schools and colleges have policies that enable students to obtain a letter from a specialist informing professors and teachers of their need for extra time on tests.So on to my first point. Professors and teachers make tests only on important information taught in the class. So students that don’t do well may recognize the information, but not yet completely understand it. For example, In my Anatomy class, we don’t take multiple question tests, instead, we must know the information completely, which requires a complete understanding of the information. As a result, on my first quiz, I recognized the information but had no understanding of why things did things or the specific names of things. It helped me that I changed the way I studied.