Two-Stage Testing Reduces Student-Perceived Exam Anxiety in Introductory Chemistry

Abstract

Two-stage quizzes and exams were implemented for both in-class quizzes and term tests in three sections of first-year General (Introductory) Chemistry. In the first stage, students completed the exam individually and submitted their papers. In the second stage, students collaborated with peers to complete a subset of the exam questions. The aim of the first stage was to evaluate students’ individual knowledge, while the second stage provided an opportunity for peer-led learning. Exam scores were calculated as a blend of scores on the two stages, between 80 and 85% for the first (individual) stage and 20–15% for the second (collaborative) stage. Students’ (total n = 129) written responses to open-ended questions in a long-answer student survey comparing two-stage and one-stage (in which there is only the individual portion) tests were qualitatively coded by thematic analysis, with themes developed through a grounded theory approach. The most significant conclusion was that students perceived that the two-stage test format helped to partially (but by no means fully) alleviate student exam anxiety when compared to a traditional one-stage test. Student responses were primarily positive about the two-stage format rather than negative about the one-stage format. The most common themes that emerged from student responses centered on: (1) improvement in grades, (2) positive discussion with peers, (3) immediate feedback from peers, and (4) less (perceived) pressure. Finally, students also expressed a very strong overall preference for two-stage over one-stage tests.