Classroom Anxiety and the Examination Performance of Test-Anxious Students

Abstract

This study examined the academic performance of low, moderate, and high test anxiety students within two classrooms which differed significantly in the mean level of anxiety aroused by examinations. When differences in classroom anxiety were not considered, a significant negative linear trend was observed between anxiety level and academic performance (p < .001). No differences were found in the academic performance of low test anxiety students within the two classrooms, but a significant interaction (p C .05) was observed between classroom anxiety level and the academic performance of moderate and high test anxiety students. Moderate test anxiety students tended to obtain slightly higher examination scores in the High Anxiety Section than in the Low Anxiety Section, white the opposite was true for high test anxiety students.