Test Anxiety: The Fear Factor in Measuring Academic Performance of College Students
According to Turner, Biedel, Hughes and Turner (1993), research suggests strongly that children with test anxiety have a number of detrimental academic deficiencies, although it is unclear if test anxiety results in academic deficiencies or vice versa. It is found that children with test anxiety have a poor perception of themselves. A critical dimension is the estimation of cognitive ability because this factor clearly is related to the ability to perform academically. As hypothesized, based on the cognitive competence subscale, the test anxious children perceived themselves to be less competent. Thus, the finding here is consistent with those of other studies and further supports the contention that test anxiety can be a significant impairment to the academic achievement of young children. A final purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of test anxiety to other non-test-related fears. The results indicate that the test anxious children had more non-test-related fears than their non-test anxious peers. Thus, it may be that many test anxious children suffer a more pervasive pattern of fear and anxiety as suggested by Sarason et al. (1960) and Beidel and Turner (1988). However, even when the difference in level of fearfulness was statistically controlled, there were still significant relationships between test anxiety and academic achievement and self-concept. This suggests that differences in self-concept and academic achievement are not solely related to general fearfulness but also are influenced by test anxiety. Research questions that remain to be addressed include why the prevalence of test anxiety for all children appears to have...
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...gh review, researchers found no testing measures used in the state of Maryland that are implemented to examine test anxiety levels in the population of incoming students of colleges and universities. This research will enable collegiate students to gain a greater understanding of the degree of test anxiety they are experiencing, the factors that may be related to test anxiety, and through practical application learn to use productive coping strategies to achieve academic success. Without proper testing techniques students fall well under the expected performance rate and risk failing college and dropping from the higher education track. Researchers hypothesize that there will be a statistically significant difference between male and female students on test anxiety measures. Researchers will explore the relationships between age, classification, and test anxiety.
Author Deborah Landry in her article “Teachers' (k-5) perceptions of student behaviors during standardized testing” written for the Curriculum and Teaching Dialogue in 2006 examines the effects of standardized testing on student behavior as perceived by their teachers. Landry works with sixty-three teachers in grades kindergarten through grade five from two northeastern school districts in Oklahoma and found teachers to have had perceived many changes in student behavior during standardized testing. These changes had a wide range of what was described by Landry as distressing results including which included such things as fear and a sense of helplessness by the students observed. Landry also found that not only had standardized testing affected students negatively by raising such things as anxiety levels but also discovered that it is also impacting the teachers themselves who are responsible for
Jake’s origin of his Anxiety Disorder stemmed from the rise in the difficulty of his classes. More specifically, it could have been a behavioral, humanistic, and/or a cognitive factor of which induced his anxiety. Depending on how the counselor came up with Jake’s diagnosis, comparative analysis can be applied to the three possible variable factors of Jake’s counselor’s reasoning, and how other psychologists view each of the same behavioral, humanistic, and cognitive factors today.
There have been reports, even from elementary schools, that young children vomit in their standardized test booklets from stress. If children this young are already becoming sick with school-related stress, we can only begin to imagine their state of being once the added pressure of middle school, high school and college enters their lives. It is critical for school boards to realize that the crippling anxiety that runs rampant through the crowded halls of American schools is a serious cause for concern. Part of this concern stems from the disadvantage at which high stakes testing often puts students with testing anxiety. An example of this can be found when Audrey, whose life Robbins chronicles in The Overachievers, feels that tests do not reflect her knowledge of a topic. Indeed, it is true that if a student is mentally distressed on an extreme level, he/she is not in a good position to show his/her knowledge. In discussing this phenomenon it is important to understand that while most students feel anxious about high stakes tests, it is the ones with clinical anxiety who suffer the most, who vomit in their textbooks and who are
... a tedious process, but the change can have immense, positive effects for the future college student. The ACT and SAT that supposedly measure a student's learning potential through multiple-choice questions should be replaced by a test of a student's desire to learn determined through the analysis of essays, recommendation letters, and school or community involvement. This change can result in a more academically motivated freshman class. Standardized testing in its current form does not accurately measure most students' learning potential. It does not allow for diversity and creates a huge hurdle for many potential academic achievers. An adjustment to a diverse, open testing format of the ACT or SAT and a stress on the student's other academic accomplishments can accurately measure the student's desire to learn, therefore measuring the student's learning potential.
I am not a terrible test taker (situation), but I do experience slight anxiety (emotional reaction) whenever they arise. Usually the first thing that pops into my head (automatic thought) is that I will do poorly and receive a failing grade. This in turn causes my
Students that have severe test anxiety do not have a fair advantage (ADAA,
Today students go to school from K-12 earning their education and take a standardized test during their junior or senior years (sometimes sophomore year). The SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) and other standardized test are used by colleges across the world to determine if a student is ready for college. As a result, there are some individuals that disagree with the use of standardized testi...
Getting into college requires students to make an assured grade on a standardized test called the American College Test. High school students begin in kindergarten preparing for tests; to make it to the next level you have to score a certain score. Pressure is forced upon many students when they begin sophomore year and begin to ponder the thoughts of college and life after high school. Once they have planned out their school, major, and work life after college, the school counselor plans a meeting to discuss the ACT. Students begin to be worried and anxious about grades and tests; all of these stressed students do not realize they have been passing test after test to score a good enough grade to get into college, where they will begin to take test after test to graduate college and even after college, these students will still be tested within their workforce.
From the beginning children has to take a set-up whose trademark is “high stakes” testing (s.1 ll.11-12). In primary school pupils have to take an enormous amount of testing that may cause them to develop stress. Cassidy talks about parents encouraging their children to take a school that have a high-test score, which may also damage their motivation and self-esteem (s.1 ll. 14-15). Cassidy includes statement
Anxiety and Athletic Performance Introduction Athletes today need to be able to cope with the anxiety and pressure that is placed on them in the competitive world of sports. A large deal of research has been done on examining the relationship between anxiety and performance within the field of athletics. This paper is going to show that the mind of an athlete has a lot to do with the result of the particular event. In order to show that anxiety in athletes is a significant problem, this paper is going to be set up in three different areas in order to explain exactly how anxiety affects the athlete. The first section of the paper is going to explain the history and terminology of the study of anxiety in athletes.
As child growing up some of the frightful memories include a visit to the dentist; an evil man with scary drill whose solve purpose is to hurt you or the first day in elementary school you finally leave all behind the cozy classrooms and nap times of kindergarten and enter the big leagues. All of these are considered a cakewalk compared to standardize testing. Since the start of elementary school students in the United States are taught to test. In many instances students are held back or placed in remedial classes because of lower grades. But many don’t realize that some students are not great at testing taking and because of the lower grades some educators believe that these students are lower achievers. This leads to lower self-esteem and encourage students to drop out in later years. Also students are forced to memorize information merely as facts without sparking their creativity or enhancing their knowledge.
There are studies that show that this way of schooling could be increasing depression and anxiety in students as well. In fact, about 26% of students suffering are reporting that their schooling is one of the main reasons for their depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses. (Clark 2016) One Study tested children in a normal classroom testing environment and found that nearly all of them experienced some form of test related anxiety either prior to or after the test. There may be ways to solve this problem.
According to Steele’s research, minority students easily recognize the negative stereotypes held against them by many members of society. They fear that performing poorly on the SAT will only confirm these stereotypes. As a result, they may second-guess themselves on easy questions, rush through the test to appear more confident than they really are, or ponder over a question too long and become more likely to run out of time. This form of anxiety added to the test-anxiety many students have when taking the SATs creates a huge disadvantage for minority
Students with academic anxiety are self-engrossed and lead to their own academic demise. Test anxiety does not only affect a student's performance on a test, but Huberty (2009) asserts that test anxiety over time tends to contribute to more common underachievement. He describes the consequences of constant test anxiety including lowered self-esteem, reduced effort, and loss of desire to complete school tasks. Students who have academic anxiety also have a higher risk of developing depression, and often feel deprived of confidence (Cunningham, 2008). Thus, academic anxiety can become extreme, and have negative effects on students’ well-being.
I was in the seventh grade when it happened, I did not know who to turn to or who I would tell all I knew was I needed to escape. I felt that the world was crumbling in front of my eyes and I could not do anything about it. I kept looking for a way out someone to blame but who would I blame when the enemy was the person staring back at me in the mirror. At the time I did not know what was going on but soon realized I was having a panic attack.