Test anxiety

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_anxiety

Test anxiety is a combination of physiological over-arousal, tension and somatic

symptoms, along with worry, dread, fear of failure, and catastrophizing, that occur before
or during test situations.[1] It is a physiological condition in which people experience
extreme stress, anxiety, and discomfort during and/or before taking a test. This anxiety
creates significant barriers to learning and performance.[2] Research suggests that high
levels of emotional distress have a direct correlation to reduced academic performance
and higher overall student drop-out rates.[2][3][4] Test anxiety can have broader
consequences, negatively affecting a student's social, emotional and behavioural
development, as well as their feelings about themselves and school.[5]

Highly test-anxious students score about 12 percentile points below their low anxiety
peers.[6][7][8] Test anxiety is prevalent amongst the student populations of the world.[9][10]
It has been studied formally since the early 1950s beginning with researchers George
Mandler and Seymour Sarason.[11] Sarason's brother, Irwin G. Sarason, then contributed
to early investigation of test anxiety, clarifying the relationship between the focused
effects of test anxiety, other focused forms of anxiety, and generalized anxiety.[12]

Test anxiety can also be labeled as anticipatory anxiety, situational anxiety or evaluation
anxiety. Some anxiety is normal and often helpful to stay mentally and physically alert.[13]
When one experiences too much anxiety, however, it can result in emotional or physical
distress, difficulty concentrating, and emotional worry. Inferior performance arises not
because of intellectual problems or poor academic preparation, but because testing
situations create a sense of threat for those experiencing test anxiety; anxiety resulting
from the sense of threat then disrupts attention and memory function.[14][15][16][17]
Researchers suggest that between 25 and 40 percent of students experience test
anxiety.[18] Students with disabilities and students in gifted educations classes tend to
experience high rates of test anxiety.[19] Students who experience test anxiety tend to be
easily distracted during a test, experience difficulty with comprehending relatively simple
instructions, and have trouble organizing or recalling relevant information.[1]

Signs and symptoms

Researchers believe that feelings of anxiety arise to
prepare a person for threats.[20] In humans, anxiety
symptoms are distributed along a continuum and
different symptom levels of anxiety predict
outcomes. Responses consist of increased heart
rate, stress hormone secretion, restlessness,
vigilance, and fear of a potentially dangerous
A student of the University of Madras,
environment.[20] Anxiety prepares the body
with his hair tied to a nail in the wall, to
physically, cognitively, and behaviourally to detect prevent him from falling asleep (1905)
and deal with threats to survival. As a result, a
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person’s body begins to hyperventilate to allow more
oxygen to enter the bloodstream, divert blood to muscles, and sweat to cool the skin.[20]
In individuals, the degree to which an anxiety response is developed is based on the
probability of bad things happening in the environment and the individual’s ability to cope
with them. In the case of test taking, this might be a failing exam grade that prevents the
student from being accepted to a post-secondary institution. A person's beliefs about their
own competencies are a form of self-knowledge, which plays an important role in
analyzing situations that might be threatening. When a person has feelings of low
competence about their abilities they are likely to anticipate negative outcomes such as
failure, under uncertain conditions. Thus, evaluative situations including tests and exams,
are perceived as more threatening by students who have low competencies. [21]

There is a difference between generalized anxiety disorders (GAD) and test anxiety.
GAD is characterized by "trait anxiety" which results in a person experiencing high levels
of stress across a wide range of situations. In contrast, people with test anxiety have a
"state anxiety" which results in high levels of nervousness specific to testing.[22]

Symptoms of test anxiety can range from moderate to severe. "Students who exhibit
moderate symptoms are still able to perform relatively well on exams. Other students with
severe anxiety will often experience panic attacks."[23]

Common physical symptoms include: headache, upset stomach, feeling of fear, feeling of
dread, shortness of breath, sweating, pacing or fidgeting, crying, racing thoughts and
blanking out.

During states of excitement or stress, the body releases adrenaline. Adrenaline is known
to cause physical symptoms that accompany test anxiety, such as increased heart rate,
sweating, and rapid breathing.[24] In many cases having adrenaline is a good thing. It is
helpful when dealing with stressful situations, ensuring alertness and preparation.[25] But
for some people the symptoms are difficult or impossible to handle, making it impossible
to focus on tests.

Test anxiety consists of:

Physiological overarousal – often termed emotionality. Somatic signs include

headaches, stomach aches, nausea, diarrhea, excessive sweating, shortness of
breath, light-headedness or fainting, rapid heartbeat and dry mouth. Test anxiety
can also lead to panic attacks, in which the student may have a sudden intense
fear, difficulty breathing, and extreme discomfort.
Worry and dread – maladaptive cognitions. This includes catastrophic
expectations of gloom and doom, fear of failure, random thoughts, feelings of
inadequacy, self-condemnation, negative self-talk, frustration and comparing
oneself unfavorably to others.
Cognitive/Behavioral – poor concentration, "going blank" or "freezing," confusion,
and poor organization. The inability to concentrate leads to impaired performance
on tests. Fidgeting during or outright avoidance of the test. Students often report
"blanking out" even though they have studied sufficiently for the test.[26]
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[26]
 Emotional – low self-esteem, depression, anger, and a feeling of hopelessness.[26]

Causes
Research shows that parental pressure is associated with greater worry, test irrelevant
thoughts, and stronger bodily symptoms relating to anxiety during a test.[21]

Other causes of test anxiety may include fear of failure,procrastination, and previous
poor test performance.[27] As well, characteristics of the test environment such as: nature
of the task, difficulty, atmosphere, time constraints, examiner characteristics, mode of
administration and physical setting can affect the level of anxiousness felt by the
student.[5][21] Researchers Putwain & Best (2011),[28] examined test performance among
elementary children when the teacher put pressure on the students in an attempt to
create a more high stress environment. Their findings showed that students performed
worse in high threat situations and experienced more test anxiety and worrisome
thoughts than when in a low threat environment.

Test anxiety is known to develop into a vicious cycle. After experiencing test anxiety on
one test, the student may become so fearful of it happening again they become more
anxious and upset than they would normally, or even than they experienced on the
previous test. If the cycle continues without acknowledgement, or the student seeking
help, the student may begin to feel helpless in the situation.[29]

People who experience test anxiety often have parents or siblings who have test anxiety
or other types of anxiety. Anxiety does seem to have some genetic components.[30]

Diagnosis
Test anxiety can be diagnosed using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV, under the
classification of social phobia.[8] Social phobias are characterized by a marked and
persistent fear of social or performance situations in which embarrassment may occur. In
order to be diagnosed as suffering from a social phobia, the DSM-IV states that the
individual must present four different factors.[8]

Must show an immediate anxiety response when exposed to the feared social or
performance situation.
Must show various attempts to avoid social or performance situation, or sometimes
endure it but with extreme fear.
Must experience a disruption to normal activities due to the avoidance or fear
associated with the situation
Must have experienced the symptoms for at least six months.[8]

Other variables related to test anxiety are:

Theories

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Anxiety is defined as the "psychological mechanism whereby the current intensification of
a dangerous drive results in the elicitation of defenses."[32] George Mandler and Seymour
Sarason (1952), developed the theory that anxiety present in testing situations is an
important determinate of test performance. Individuals that become highly anxious during
tests typically perform more poorly on tests than low-test anxious persons, especially
when tests are given under stressful evaluative conditions such as a post-secondary
exam. The feelings of forgetfulness, or drawing a "blank" are developed because of
anxiety-produced interference between relevant responses and irrelevant responses
generated from the person’s anxious state. The difference in performance of a high-
anxious test taker compared to a low-anxious test taker is largely due to the difference in
their ability to focus on the tasks required.[33] A low-anxious test taker is able to focus
greater attention on the tasks required of them while taking the test, while a high-anxious
test taker is focused on their internal self, and the anxiety they are feeling. Anxious test
takers do not perform adequately on the test as their attention is divided between
themselves and the test. Therefore, students with high test anxiety are unable to focus
their full attention on the test. Furthermore, anxiousness is evoked when a student
believes that the evaluative situation, such as an assessment, exceeds his or her
intellectual, motivational, and social capabilities.[21]

Psychologists Liebert and Morris (1967) analyzed the structure of test anxiety given on
two distinct factors: Cognitive Test Anxiety and Emotionality.[7] Emotionality means that
the individual shows high levels of several different symptoms related to test anxiety that
can be seen through physiological responses experienced during situations where they
are being evaluated; such as an exam.[7] Some of the physiological manifestations
include: increased galvanic skin response and heart rate, dizziness, nausea, or feelings
of panic.[7] There is evidence that emotionality is a distinct part of test anxiety; however, it
can be seen that when an individual displays high emotionality it means that it is mostly
associated with declining performance, but only when the individual is also experiencing
high levels of worry.[7]

The other factor mentioned is Cognitive Test Anxiety, also known as worry. It is mostly
composed of the individuals cognitive reactions to situations where they are being
evaluated, in the times prior to, during, and after those tasks.[7] Some of the thoughts that
individuals with high cognitive test anxiety are constantly dealing with are comparing self
performance to peers, considering the consequences of failure, low levels of confidence
in performance, excessive worry about grades, feeling that they are unprepared for tests,
and loss of self-worth.[7]

Researchers Putwain, Woods & Symes (2010), found that a low academic self-concept
was associated with higher worry and tension about their abilities to do well on a test. A
student's metacognitive beliefs play an important role in the maintenance of negative
self-beliefs.[21]

Anxiety reactions can be generalized from previous experiences to testing situations.[34]

Feelings of inadequacy, helplessness, anticipations of punishment or loss of status and
esteem manifest anxiety responses. As well, the presence of an audience can debilitate
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the performance of high anxious test takers and increase the performance of low anxious
test takers. Interestingly, persons who score high on anxiety scales tend to describe
themselves in negative, self-devaluing terms. Highly anxious test takers also blame
themselves for their failure significantly more than low anxious test takers.

The study of the relationship between anxiety and performance can be understood by
using the Yerkes-Dodson Law, where one can see the facilitating and debilitating effects
of arousal on performance as an inverted "U".[8] An example of this correlation can be
seen in terms of a child taking a test where the degree of arousal or anxiety that the child
portrays can be seen as beneficial to the performance. Though, if the child doesn't have
a feeling or fear or failure or some sort of encouragement to perform well on the test, then
the child is unlikely to put the necessary effort into preparing or being motivated when
taking the test and so he or she will not perform to their fullest potential.[8]

However, if before or during a test a child's level of anxiety is above the optimum level,
they may also fail to demonstrate their true abilities.[8] Under these circumstances fear of
the actual test may disrupt preparation and cause a great amount of distress during the
test that it is more than likely to impair their performance.[8]

Attentional theories
There are two main groups of attentional theories that attempt to explain compromised
performance in pressured situations.[35]

One group of theories are the explicit monitoring theories. They state that when a person
is expected to perform a specific skill, the pressure may cause an increased self-
consciousness and inward focus, which can disrupt their ability to successfully perform
that task.[36] Thinking about step-by-step procedures can inhibit one’s ability to execute a
task.[35] For example, a study by R. Gray found that baseball players put into the high-
pressure condition had increased errors, and an increased ability to recall details like the
direction their bat was moving. This indicates that the pressured players were monitoring
themselves more, which impacted their ability to successfully hit the ball. [35]

A second group of theories are the distraction theories. These theories states that high-
pressure environments create a dual-task situation, in which the person’s attention is
divided between the task at hand and unhelpful thoughts about the situation and possible
negative consequences of poor performance. [36] Attention is an important part of working
memory,[36] which is the system that actively holds several pieces of relevant information
in the mind while inhibiting irrelevant information.[36] Working memory has a limited
capacity, and the addition of stress and anxiety reduces the resources available to focus
on relevant information.[37]

In situations in which individuals need to concentrate their attention on a specific task,

emotional stimuli can divert their attention to a greater degree than non-emotional
stimuli.[38] Emotional stimuli will often dominate a person’s thoughts, and any attempt to
suppress them will require additional working memory resources.[37] When working
memory divides resources between the aversive cognitions and the task-relevant
[39]
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material, then the person’s ability to use the relevant information on a test will suffer.[39]
People who suffer from test anxiety are more likely to experience negative cognitions
while in evaluative situations. Furthermore, test anxious persons have been found to bias
their attention towards threatening and anxiety related stimuli more than nonemotional
stimuli.[40]
Research has accordingly found that tasks that rely heavily on working memory are the
ones that suffer the most during pressure.[36] Shortfalls in performance that are caused
by test anxiety seem to be related to the extent to which the student has full access to
their working memory.[41]

When comparing these two theories in the context of academic performance, a majority
of work supports distraction theories.[36] One reason for this is that many of the skills
performed in the classroom require heavy demands on working memory.[36] However,
there are different kinds of pressure situations. There is monitoring pressure, in which an
individual’s performance is impacted due to the presence of an audience, and outcome
pressure, in which an individual’s performance is influenced by the consequences of the
testing results. [35] In a study, DeCaro et al. found that performance on a rule-based task,
that relies heavily on working memory, was impaired by outcome pressure, but not
monitoring pressure, whereas performance on an information-integration task, which
does not require attentional control, was hurt by monitoring pressure, but not outcome
pressure.[35] These findings indicate that performance is compromised in different ways
depending on the type of task, and the types of pressure, and that both theories can be
correct.[35]

Attentional control
Eysenck et al.[42] elaborate upon the distraction
theories and propose the attentional control
theory.[43] This theory uses Baddeley's model of
working memory to explain the effects of anxiety on
working memory and on performance.[44] In
Baddeley's theory, working memory (WM) consists
Schematic of the four elements of
of four components, one of them the central Baddeley's model of working memory.
executive that has a number of tasks such as
coordination of the temporary stores of phonological
and visual information (phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad, respectively).[45]

The attentional control theory assumes that anxiety primarily affects attentional control,
which is a key function of the central executive.[44] Attentional control is the balance
between the two attentional systems, the goal-directed system, influenced by the
individual's goals, and the stimulus-driven system, influenced by salient stimuli.[44]
According to the attentional control theory, anxiety disrupts the balance between these
two systems. The stimulus-driven system becomes stronger at the expense of the goal-
directed system, thereby impairing the efficiency of the inhibition and shifting functions of
the central executive. [44]

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In support of this theory, there is strong evidence that anxiety largely impairs processing
efficiency rather than performance effectiveness.[44] Performance effectiveness refers to
the quality of performance whereas processing efficiency refers to the amount of
resources used to attain an effective performance.[44] There is also evidence that anxiety
impairs both the inhibition and the shifting function.[44] Therefore, this theory suggests
that students high in test anxiety will have to allocate more resources to the task at hand
than non-test anxiety students in order to achieve the same results.[39]

In general, people with higher working memory capacity do better on academic tasks, but
this changes when people are under acute pressure.[36] Sian Beilock et al. found that
pressure led individuals with a high working memory capacity to perform worse on a
complicated task, whereas individuals with a low WM capacity got the same low results
with or without pressure. This was because people with high WM could use more better
but more demanding problem solving strategies in the low pressure condition, which they
had to abandon in the high pressure condition. The low WM people never used these
demanding strategies in the first place.[36] Evidence for similar working memory effects in
children has also been found.[46] Evidence that trait anxiety might have different effects
on working memory than state or acute pressure situations comes from Johnson et al.
who found individuals' performances on a task showed a decrease in accuracy due to
trait anxiety for individuals with low or average WM capacity, but did not significantly
decrease for individuals with high WM.[47]

Measurement scales
Early scales, by authors such as Charles Spielberger, tended to focus on physiological
and somatic features and on worry, commonly referred to as emotionality,[48] while more
recent offerings, such as that by Cassady & Johnson, emphasize cognitive processes.[49]
"Test anxiety" for these authors consists of physiological and mental processes, and
impaired test performance is seen as the result.

The Children's Test Anxiety Questionnaire is specifically designed to measure test

anxiety in children 8–12 years of age. It provides scores for three dimensions of test
anxiety: "worrisome thoughts concerning failure (i.e. 'when I take tests, I worry about
failing'), automatic reactions concerning students' general and specific somatic
indications of anxiety (i.e. 'when I take tests, my heart beats fast'), and off-task
behaviours concerning nervous habits and distracting behaviours (i.e. 'when I take tests, I
play with my pencil')" [50]

The Test Anxiety Inventory for Children and Adolescent (TAICA) is a way to measure and
assess test anxiety in children and adolescents in Grades 4 through 12. Those
individuals who are being assessed rate their responses on a 5-point Likert-type scale
ranging from 1 (never true about me) to 5 (always true about me). The TAICA is a 45-
item self-report measure which consists of four sub scales.[51]

Cognitive Obstruction/Inattention subscale assesses memory and attention

difficulties and obstructed cognitions associated with test anxiety
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 Physiological Hyperarousal subscale measures physical symptoms associated with
the test-taking process.
Social Humiliation subscale measures fear associated with failing a test and being
belittled or ridiculed by significant others
Worry subscale assesses negative thoughts and worries that adversely affect test
performance.

Treatment
Medication will not cure anxiety disorders but will keep them under control. Drug
treatments for anxiety disorders work by downplaying threat detecting mechanisms in the
body.[20]

Beta blockers – commonly used to treat performance anxiety. Propranolol (a beta

blocker) blocks the physical manifestations of anxiety. It slows heart rate and
reduces sweating. It is not to be taken for the first time on the day of a test, as
some people are shown to have adverse side effects which include, but are not
limited to, lightheadedness and a very slow heart beat.[52]
Benzodiazepines – commonly used to treat test anxiety.[53] Should be taken up to
30 minutes before the start of the test. Side effects include, but are not limited to,
sleepiness and can impair memory and thought.[54]
Antidepressants – commonly used for general depression, which can accompany
test anxiety. Side effects include, but are not limited to, the potential to cause
agitation and suicidal thoughts. These need to be taken on a regular basis not
when needed before an exam.[52]

Another approach is the use of psychotherapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is

very useful in treating anxiety disorders. CBT helps to change the pattern of thinking that
support the fear and help the sufferer overcome the negative beliefs.[55] CBT often lasts
about two weeks and takes place in small groups.

Medication combined with psychotherapy has shown to be the most effective treatment
approach for people suffering from anxiety disorders.

Cognitive interventions have only had limited results when it comes to improving test
performance.[39] Some cognitive strategies have even been shown to be detrimental to
performance, particularly strategies such as thought suppression.[39]
One intervention that had promising results in a first study is "attentional cognitive bias
modification" in which children learning to avoid paying attention to a threatening face.[56]

It has been shown that students seem to try to treat their cognitive test anxiety and its
negative consequences with the help of prescription drugs without having a
prescription.[57][58] This type of self-medication has been interpreted as a coping strategy
to reduce cognitive inference or deficits and to prevent subjective states of distress and
negative performance outcomes.

Management
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To gain an accurate assessment of student comprehension, instructors should be
concerned with minimizing the effects of test anxiety. Instructors might offer "second
chances" post test, familiarize students with test format and grading scheme, and lower
the impact of any one test.[59] If students have greater confidence in their test-taking
skills, they are more likely to be comfortable and relaxed when the testing does occur.
Having an intentional thinking strategy should help student performance improve.

For some individuals, poor academic performance is due to skill deficits, which could
include problems in encoding (learning),rehearsal (study skills) or retrieval during a test
(test-taking strategies).[60] Skill deficits may lead to poor performance directly (failure to
adequately learn the material) or indirectly (awareness of being ill-prepared causes
anxiety that, in turn, leads to poor performance). Therefore, the most effective
interventions are those that combine skill-focused strategies (i.e. study skills training,
test-taking skills) with cognitive (i.e. cognitive restructuring) or behavioural approaches
(i.e. relaxation training, systematic desensitization).[61]

Research suggests that students do not gain as much from reading self-help material as
students would from the same material received in therapy or in a participatory group
setting.[62]

See also

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54. Jump up ^ Sage, Weld. "Drugs for Test Anxiety". LIVESTRONG. Retrieved 13

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55. Jump up ^ NIMH. "Treatment of Anxiety". The National Institute of Mental Health
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56. Jump up ^ MacLeod, C., and Mathews, A. (2012). Cognitive Bias Modification
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62. Jump up ^ G. Rosen, "Self-help treatment and the commercialization of
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