Test Anxiety Scale

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Test Anxiety Scale

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About Test Anxiety Scale

Scale Name

Test Anxiety Scale

Author Details

Becky Osborne

Translation Availability

Not Sure

Test Anxiety Scale
Test Anxiety Scale

Background/Description

Many people experience stress or anxiety before an exam. In fact, a little nervousness can actually help you perform your best. However, when this distress becomes so excessive that it actually interferes with performance on an exam, it is known as test anxiety.

What does it feel like to experience test anxiety? You paid attention in class, took detailed notes, read every chapter, and even attended extra study sessions after class, so you should do great on that big exam, right?

When the test is presented, however, you find yourself so nervous that you blank out the answers to even the easiest questions. If this experience sounds familiar, then you might be experiencing test anxiety.

Test anxiety is a psychological condition in which people experience extreme distress and anxiety in testing situations. While many people experience some degree of stress and anxiety before and during exams, test anxiety can actually impair learning and hurt test performance.Test anxiety is a type of performance anxiety. In situations where the pressure is on and good performance counts, people can become so anxious that they are actually unable to do their best.

While people have the skills and knowledge to do very well in these situations, their excessive anxiety impairs their performance. The severity of test anxiety can vary considerably from one person to another. Some people might feel like they have “butterflies” in their stomach and while others might find it difficult to concentrate on the exam.

A little bit of nervousness can actually be helpful, making you feel mentally alert and ready to tackle the challenges presented in an exam. The Yerkes-Dodson law suggests that there is a link between arousal levels and performance. Essentially, increased arousal levels can help you do better on exams, but only up to a certain point.

Once these stress levels cross that line, the excessive anxiety you might be experiencing can actually interfere with test performance. Excessive fear can make it difficult to concentrate and you might struggle to recall things that you have studied. You might feel like all the information you spent much time reviewing suddenly seems inaccessible in your mind.

You blank out the answers to questions to which you know you know the answers. This inability to concentrate and recall information then contributes to even more anxiety and stress, which only makes it that much harder to focus your attention on the test.

The symptoms of test anxiety can vary considerably and range from mild to severe. Some students experience only mild symptoms of test anxiety and are still able to do fairly well on exams. Other students are nearly incapacitated by their anxiety, performing dismally on tests, or experiencing panic attacks before or during exams.​

Physical Symptoms: Physical symptoms of test anxiety include sweating, shaking, rapid heartbeat, dry mouth, fainting, and nausea. Milder cases of test anxiety can cause a sense of “butterflies” in the stomach, while more severe cases can actually cause students to become physically ill.

Cognitive and Behavioral Symptoms: Cognitive and behavioral symptoms can include fidgeting or outright avoidance of testing situations. In some cases, test anxiety can become so severe that students will drop out of school in order to avoid the source of their fear. Substance abuse can also occur since many students attempt to self-treat their anxiety by taking downers such as prescription medications and alcohol.

Many people with test anxiety report blanking out on answers to the test, even though they thoroughly studied the information and were sure that they knew the answers to the questions. Negative self-talk, trouble concentrating on the test, and racing thoughts are also common cognitive symptoms of test anxiety.

Administration, Scoring and Interpretation

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 The total number of “True” answers is your test anxiety score. A score of 12 or below ranks in the low anxiety range. If that is your score, the chances are that you wouldn’t be extra stressed right now. A score of 12-20 ranks in the medium range. Any score above 20 signifies high test anxiety. Scoring 15 or greater is a good indication that you experience considerable discomfort about taking tests.

Reliability and Validity

Not Available

Available Versions

20-Items

Reference

Test Anxiety Scale reproduced from Sarason, I. G. (1980), Test Anxiety: Theory,
Research, and Applications. Permission granted by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Important Link

Scale File:

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