Self-Regulation, Test Anxiety, Reliability And Success in The Final Exam: Structural Model

Abstract

The article presents the empirical study results providing reliable data on the role of conscious self-regulation as a significant resource for successful completion of final exams by the Russian school students (N = 231). Participants completed self-reported measures of the self-regulation, test anxiety, personality features. The study also has taken into account the students' results of the Unified State Exam in mathematics. Structural equation modelling was employed to examine the relationships among regulatory, personality, test anxiety characteristics and exam success and reliability of the students’ academic results in mathematics. The obtained model analysis shows that reliability of educational activities is primarily associated with pupils’ self-regulation reliability and their test anxiety level. At the same time, a successful exam result is determined by the high general level of the learning activity self-regulation and a low test anxiety level. Extraversion affects academic success and reliability indirectly - through self-regulation and anxiety. The research results have confirmed the hypothesis that conscious self-regulation acts as a system-forming factor among significant non-cognitive predictors of the academic success and reliability of students in examination testing situations. Regulatory characteristics to some extent make it possible to compensate for and overcome certain limitations of the temperamental characteristics as well as mediate the test anxiety impact on exam success. The study results provide important data for developing programs of the students' self-regulation training for the high-stakes tests.