Abstract
The aim of this study was to estimate the impact of distraction on standardized test performance. The distraction investigated here was from fellow examinees who were taking a speaking test. Study participants were volunteers (N = 171) who had previously taken the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) General Test, or the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). They were invited to retake a different form of the same test under either distracting conditions or standard, distraction-free conditions. Test takers expressed strong negative perceptions about the distraction caused by fellow test takers. The impact on actual test performance, however, was slight in the GMAT sample and negligible in both the GRE and TOEFL samples. Moreover, the influence of distraction was no greater than that associated with other common, undesirable influences.
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