Abstract
Test anxiety refers to the tendency to appraise tests and test-like situations, where performance is evaluated, as threatening and respond with high levels of state anxiety. High levels of test anxiety are associated with lower performance on test and examinations, and may also meet diagnostic criteria for clinical anxiety. In this paper we review: (i), the importance of the test anxiety construct and consider whether test anxiety may constitute a risk factor for clinical anxiety, (ii), the theoretical antecedents of test anxiety, with a specific focus on the Self-Regulatory Executive Function (S-REF) Processing Model, and (iii), interventions for test anxiety in adolescents, with a specific focus on one cognitive-behavioural intervention, Strategies to Tackle Exam Pressure and Stress (STEPS). We bring the review to a close with a consideration of what the next steps might fruitfully be for research, theory, and intervention, and conclude there is much work still yet to be done in the field of test anxiety.
Highlights
In this paper we provide a brief review of the test anxiety literature to address four key questions of concern to researchers, practitioners, policy makers, parents, and not least, students themselves
We bring the review to a close with a consideration of what the steps might fruitfully be for research, theory, and intervention, and conclude there is much work still yet to be done in the field of test anxiety
Herzer et al (2014) used a receiver-operator curve analysis to show that test anxiety scores in the ≥ 66th percentile of the German Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI) could reliably predict clinical anxiety, assessed through a clinical interview, with 96.6% accuracy
Summary
In a psychological intervention there may not be the skills or time to address low competence beliefs in the material to be examined (and this is best left for those tasked with regular instruction) people can be helped to plan effective ways of building their subject-specific competencies (e.g., using principles of self-regulated learning) This approach will be useful for breaking cycles of maladaptive person-situation interactions rooted in avoidance (e.g., procrastination and effort withdrawal); cycles of behaviour that maintain anxiety that are rooted in avoidance can be challenged during intervention. 3225 students in Years 10 and 11 of English secondary education, studying for their GCSE examinations, were randomly allocated to intervention or wait-list control groups (Putwain et al, 2014) and test anxiety measured pre- and postintervention. After completing STEPS I am in a better position to control my worry during a test or exam
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