LE 4000 Final Sem Sample Paper test anxiety answer key

Instruction: Based on the excerpts given, write the answers to the questions below.
Answer ALL questions in the spaces provided and answers should be related.
Title of the Study
IIUM Engineering students perception on the relationship between test anxiety and academic
performance
Literature Review (Excerpts)
Author
Year
Page
Author:
Mike Zeidner

Excerpts/abstract

The three components of test anxiety are cognitive: the negative thoughts and
depreciating self-statements that occur during assessments (e.g. If I fail this
exam my whole life is a failure) and the performance-inhibiting difficulties
that may arise from anxiety (e.g. recalling facts and difficulty in reading and
understanding questions); affective: the persons appraisal of their
physiological state (such as tension, tight muscles and trembling); and
behavioural: poor study skills, avoidance and procrastination of work.

Year:
1998
Page: 12
Zeidner
Author:
Matthew
Owens, Jim
Stevenson, Julie
A. Hadwin and
Roger Norgate
Year:
2014
Page: 35
Owens,
Stevenson,
Hadwin and
Norgate
Author: Laura
C. Selkirk,
Heather A.
Boucheyk and
Jacquelynne S.
Eccles

Cognitive interference theories (e.g. attentional control theory, processing

efficiency theory) suggest that high levels of trait anxiety predict adverse
effects on the performance of cognitive tasks, particularly those that make
high demands on cognitive resources. We tested an interaction hypothesis to
determine whether a combination of high anxiety and low working memory
capacity (WMC) would predict variance in demanding test scores. Ninety six
medical students participated in the study, which measured self-report levels
of trait anxiety, working memory, and cognitive test performance. As
hypothesized, we found that the anxiety-WMC interaction explained a
significant relationship in test performance. Trait anxiety positively related to
test performance in those with high WMC. The results of this study suggest
that WMC moderates the relationship between anxiety and cognitive test
performance.

Most recent conceptual formulations of test anxiety suggest two major

components: worry and emotionality. Worry refers to the cognitive aspects of
anxiety, including intrusive off-task thoughts of failure that high-anxiety
students typically have before and during an examination or testing session.
The emotionality component of test anxiety refers to the negative effect and
somatic symptoms that result from heightened arousal due to the testing
situation.

Year: 1999

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LE 4000 Final Sem Sample Paper test anxiety answer key

Page: 7-8
Selkirk,
Boucheyk and
Eccles
Author :
Howard
Cassady and Joe
Johnson
Year: 2002
Page : 16-17
Cassady and
Johnson

Author :
Yasmin Nilofer
Farooqi , Rabia
Ghani and
Charles D.
Spielberger

This research focuses on the interaction between students expectancies in

language classes as a predictor of test anxiety. A sample Communication
undergraduates from Chiangmai University is used in the current study.
Overall, those students who highly value success in English yet expect to do
poorly in it reported the highest levels of test anxiety. On the other hand,
analysis revealed that who devalue English are more likely to maintain
moderate levels of test anxiety. Findings contribute novel information to the
literature on test anxiety in young adolescents.
Study has found that cognitive test anxiety exerts a significant stable and
negative impact on students academic performance. The current research
investigates test anxiety level and academic performance of medical students.
A sample of 150 medical students (75 males and 75 females) was drawn from
the Services Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS) within the age range of 1724 years. Purposive sampling technique was used. Test Anxiety Inventory
(TAI) by Professor Emeritus Dr. Charles D. Spielberger (1997) was
individually administered to the participants. Overall, the results indicated that
75% of the respondents experienced test anxiety. However, female medical
students reported to have higher level of test anxiety compared to the male
medical students. Moreover, the results suggested that the male medical
students achieved statistically significant higher GPAS as compared to the
female medical students. Furthermore, significant negative relationship was
found between test anxiety and academic performance of medical students.
The findings of this research have implications for helping professionals and
academia in addressing the test anxiety of the students in higher education.
Test anxiety is an overwhelming feeling of disturbance and distress among the
students around the world. This performance problem can be a devastating
problem for many college and university students; because it may impair their
performance and well being in the long run

Year: 2012
Page : na
Yasmin Nilofer
Farooqi, Rabia
Ghani and
Spielberger
Author :
Tuntufye
Mwamwenda
Year: 1994

The study investigated whether there are differences in test anxiety on

students academic performance among 92 part-time Business Administration
graduate students (63 women, 29 men; aged 2452 yrs). Results showed that
there was a statistically significant difference in academic achievement as
reflected in performance on a class test in Management, between those who
had a high level of test anxiety and those with a low level of test anxiety.
However, further analysis showed an inconsistent pattern of results regarding

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LE 4000 Final Sem Sample Paper test anxiety answer key

the effect of test anxiety on academic achievement.

Page : 1
Mwamwenda
Author :
Jong Dae, Kim
Year: 2013
Page : 20
Kim

Author :
Jolyn D.
Whitaker Sena,
Patricia A.
Lowe and
Steven W. Lee
Year: 2007
Page : 5
Sena, Lowe
and Lee
Author : Ralph
E. Culler and
Charles J.
Holahan
Year: 1980

Graduates who stress about doing well in their final exams are likely to get
lower results than peers who remain calmer, research has found. Findings
showed pupils who worried about grades scored up to one and a half grades
lower than their peers. The study is based on a survey of 325 Art & Design
students at Hongik Female Univeristy, conducted three to four months before
they took their final examination in 2012. The students were asked whether
they agreed or disagreed with 44 statements covering three areas - exam
worries, how confident they felt about dealing with their concerns and
strategies they used to cope with anxiety. Some of the statements asked were
"I am anxious while taking exams", "If I fail an exam I am afraid I will be
rated stupid by my friends" and "During exams I find myself thinking about
the consequences of failing". The findings showed there was a link between
worry and performing badly in exams - even after the students' previous
achievements were taken into account.. The difference between those who
never worried and those that always did could be the difference between an A
and a B grade. Overall, there is no doubt that test anxiety, or to be more
precise a high degree of worry over one's performance or the consequences of
one's performance, has a detrimental effect on their final examination
performance.
In the present study, the relationship between students with and without
learning disabilities (LD) and different aspects of test anxiety was examined
on a multidimensional measure of test anxiety. A sample of 774 Human
Sciences completed the Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI). Examination of the
factor structure of the TAI scores across LD status to determine whether
accurate test score interpretation was possible revealed that the majority of the
coefficient of congruence values between each pair of six corresponding
factors of the TAI (Cognitive Obstruction/Inattention, Performance
Enhancement/Facilitation Anxiety, Physiological Hyper arousal, Social
Humiliation, Worry, and Lie) and the Total Test Anxiety factor were above .90,
and the salient variable similarity index values were statistically significant,
suggesting that the factor structure of the TAI was similar across groups. The
results of seven multiple regression analyses revealed that LD predicted
higher Cognitive Obstruction/Inattention and Worry scores and lower
Performance Enhancement/Facilitation Anxiety and Lie scores.
The influence of study skills on the performance decrement
of high test-anxious students questions the notion that the test-anxious
individual's only problem is the retrieval or use of information that is known
well in the testing situation. The study skill difference between high and
low test-anxious students and the relationship
of study habits to GPA suggests that there may be a difference between high
and low test-anxious students in how familiar they are with the test material.
The influence of study on the test anxiety/performance effect is difficult to

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LE 4000 Final Sem Sample Paper test anxiety answer key

Page : 19
Culler and
Holahan

Author :
Ray Hembree
Year: 1988
Page : 47-77
Hembree

explain in terms of an interference model such as the attentional explanation

of Wine (1971).
The anxiety (which produces the interfering or attention-diverting worry
responses) is ostensibly still present in the testing situation. One explanation is
that the worry responses generated in the testing situation are a product of
both the increased anxiety and the knowledge that
there has not been adequate preparation for the test. This would mean that the
student with good study skills (and thus well prepared) might experience less
worry (and thus
have more attention for the test-taking task) in the testing situation.
The results of 562 studies were integrated by meta-analysis to show the
nature, effects, and treatment of academic test anxiety. The effect sizes were
computed through the method invented by Glass (Glass, McGaw, & Smith,
1981). The findings clearly indicated that Test anxiety (TA) causes poor
performance. It relates inversely to students self-esteem and directly to their
fears of negative evaluation, defensiveness, and other forms of anxiety.
Conditions (causes) giving rise to differential TA levels include ability, gender,
and school grade level. A variety of treatments are effective in reducing test
anxiety. Contrary to prior perceptions, improved test performance and grade
point average (GPA) consistently accompany TA reduction.

Statement of the Problem:

Despite numerous studies of test anxiety on various types of students from a variety of courses,
none focused on whether exam anxiety affects engineering students performance as they have
diverse forms of assessments throughout their study period.

Research Questions:
1. Do engineering students of IIUM perceive that emotion negatively influences their test
scores?
2. Do engineering students of different departments have different levels of perception on
how emotion negatively influences their test scores?

Study the graphs below (Figure 1 and 2). Write the findings in about 100 words, based on
the graphs given. Your response should be in line with the Research Questions.
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LE 4000 Final Sem Sample Paper test anxiety answer key

Section 1 Question A (7 marks)

Figure 1. Results of engineering students perception on emotion negatively influencing test

scores in number.
The bar graph shows the finding based on the first research question which sought to
answer on whether IIUM engineering students perceive that emotion negatively influences their
test scores. The 30 respondents had five answer options ranging from never to always.
The finding shows that a majority of the respondents which were 12 or 30% of the total
respondents answered usually which indicates that emotion can negatively influences their test
scores as they are sitting for any form of examination. This is followed by sometimes, always
and seldom. The answer option that received the lowest number of respondents was never
with only 1 or 3.33%.
In conclusion, it can be clearly seen from the pattern of the graph that most of the
respondents indicated that their test scores will be affected by their emotions to some degree.
Thus, IIUM students do perceive that emotion negatively influences their test scores.
(155 words)

Section 1 Question B (7 marks)

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LE 4000 Final Sem Sample Paper test anxiety answer key

Figure 2. Results of students of different engineering majors perception on how emotion

negatively influencing test scores.
The second bar graph displays the finding based on the second research question on
whether engineering students of different departments have different levels of perception on how
emotion negatively influences their test scores. There were 3 engineering departments involved
which were Mechanical, Electrical and Civil engineering.
Overall it can be seen that Mechanical engineering students showed the highest response
to the option Always, whereas, Civil engineering students indicated the highest for 3 out of 5
answer options which were Usually, Sometimes and Seldom. Meanwhile, Electrical
engineering students did not show any significant responds. Additionally, none of the
respondents representing any of the engineering departments answered Never .
To conclude, Mechanical and Civil engineering students showed the highest tendency to
be affected negatively by emotion on their test scores.
(128 words)
Section 2 (14 marks)

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LE 4000 Final Sem Sample Paper test anxiety answer key

Using the results in Section 1 (Questions A and B), write the discussion to the study in 200-250
words. Use the Literature Review (excerpts) as support. You have to demonstrate the ability of
using at least 2 of the citation techniques taught.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between examination anxiety
and academic performance of Engineering students in IIUM. The findings clearly suggest from
the majority of students perception that there is a relationship between examination anxiety and
academic performance.
The first question in this study sought to determine whether the engineering students of
IIUM really do perceive that their emotion would negatively impact their test scores. The result
shows that half of the participants believed that their emotion would always and usually be
detrimental for their grades in examinations. The findings of the current study are consistent
with those of Cassady and Johnson (2001), and Kim (2013) who found that students who are
emotionally agitated scored significantly lower than their more complacent counterparts. This
result may be explained by the fact that most students believe that their emotions will determine
how much they remember the information and how well they answer the questions. When they
are affected emotionally, they believe they do not really perform up to their normal standard.
This, on the other hand, may not be the case since Mwamwenda (1994) contended this as she
was unable to detect a consistent relationship between negative emotion and class test
performance. It is possible that negative emotion could actually boost test scores.
Surprisingly, for the second research question, engineering students of different majors
appeared to have different perceptions of whether emotion was negatively linked to their test
results. A majority of Mechanical and Civil Engineering students perceived that usually emotion
would negatively impact their academic performance while some from Electrical Engineering
did not really think emotion impacted much on their test scores. This finding confirms the
association between Culler and Holahan (1980) who mentioned that familiarity with the test
materials would significantly reduce the negative impact of emotions. It may be that these
Electrical Engineering students have different test types which may not be so stress-inducing. It
is possible they may have tests which are similarly found in their course study materials which
help to reduce test anxiety.
It is therefore likely that such connections exist between emotion and test scores but other
factors such as different test types might reduce the negative impact of emotion. It is possible

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LE 4000 Final Sem Sample Paper test anxiety answer key

that some examinations create a highly stressful environment whereas other exam types might
more accurately reflect students real ability as their emotions are not so highly charged.
Section 3 (12 marks)
State 2 major findings and provide 1 possible implication for each of the finding in 100-150
words
Based on the finding of research question one on whether IIUM engineering students
perceive that emotion negatively influences their test scores, it was discovered that there is a
clear relationship between negative emotion and test scores. Hence, it is necessary for students to
be aware of the effects that emotion can play on the outcome of their examination. This is
especially important so that students can look for and use some form of coping mechanism or
technique to help minimize their negative emotions which is detrimental to their studies.
In addition, the result from research question two which was to seek on whether
engineering students of different departments have different levels of perception on how emotion
negatively influences their test scores. It shows that Mechanical and Civil engineering students
displayed higher probability of being affected by negative emotions in their examination. With
this awareness, these two engineering departments can consider to take counteractive measures
to deal with this issue. Some possible steps that could be taken includes equipping lecturers with
skills to minimize negative emotions through methodological approach during class contact
hours as well as utilizing the role of Academic counselors.
(187 words)

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