Test anxiety: Is it associated with performance in high-stakes examinations?

Figures & data

Figure 1. The distribution of the test anxiety scale and GCSE total points scores. (a) Test anxiety. (b) GCSE total points score.

Both measures have been standardised to mean zero and standard deviation one. The figures running along the horizontal axis hence refer to the standardised values.

Table 1. The distribution of responses to each of the test anxiety items.

	Strongly disagree	Disagree	Agree	Strongly agree
I often worry that it will be difficult for me taking a test.	8% (404)	30% (1,535)	47% (2,339)	16% (774)
I worry that I will get poor grades at school.	6% (343)	27% (1,370)	44% (2,201)	23% (1,122)
Even if I am well prepared for a test I feel very anxious.	7% (351)	22% (1,104)	47% (2,336)	25% (1,235)
I get very tense when I study for a test.	9% (491)	38% (1,932)	37% (1,844)	15% (745)
I get nervous when I don’t know how to solve a task at school.	10% (540)	35% (1,789)	38% (1,896)	17% (811)

Percentages refer to weighted figures. Figures in brackets refer to the unweighted number of observations.

Figure 2. The link between test-anxiety decile and GCSE grades. (a) Total GCSE point scores. (b) GCSE mathematics grades.

Figures in panel (a) refer to effect sizes, while those in panel (b) refer to differences in grades. Graph can be cross-referenced with Table 2 (with additional details on model specifications provided in the table notes). Positive (negative) values indicates higher (lower) GCSE grades. ‘Demographics’ refer to estimates from Model M2 (demographics and school fixed-effects controlled). ‘PISA controls’ refer to estimates from Model 3 (demographics, school fixed-effects and PISA scores controlled). ‘PISA + KS2’ refer to estimates from Model M5 (demographics, school fixed-effects, PISA scores and Key Stage 2 scores controlled).

Table 2. The link between test-anxiety decile and GCSE grades (parameter estimates).

(a) GCSE total point scores (effect sizes)
Model	Q1			Q2		Q3		Q4		Q6		Q7		Q8		Q9		Q10
	Effect	SE		Effect	SE	Effect	SE	Effect	SE	Effect	SE	Effect	SE	Effect	SE	Effect	SE	Effect	SE
0	0.14*	0.07		0.18*	0.06	0.19*	0.07	0.06	0.07	−0.01	0.07	−0.16*	0.08	0.00	0.07	−0.09	0.08	−0.18*	0.07
1	0.12	0.06		0.12	0.06	0.17*	0.06	0.05	0.07	−0.02	0.07	−0.12	0.07	−0.01	0.06	−0.06	0.07	−0.14*	0.06
2	0.15*	0.06		0.15*	0.06	0.17*	0.06	0.07	0.06	0.00	0.06	−0.07	0.06	0.05	0.06	−0.05	0.07	−0.11	0.06
3	−0.02	0.05		0.02	0.04	0.06	0.04	0.00	0.05	0.00	0.04	0.01	0.05	0.07	0.05	−0.01	0.05	0.03	0.05
4	0.00	0.04		0.04	0.04	0.09	0.05	0.06	0.04	0.02	0.04	0.00	0.04	0.06	0.04	0.02	0.05	−0.07	0.05
5	−0.05	0.04		0.00	0.04	0.05	0.04	0.02	0.04	0.01	0.04	0.02	0.04	0.07	0.04	0.02	0.04	0.00	0.04
N	547			512		506		507		492		504		512		496		487
b) GCSE mathematics (grade differences)
Model	Q1		Q2			Q3		Q4		Q6		Q7		Q8		Q9		Q10
	Grade diff	SE	Grade diff		SE	Grade diff	SE	Grade diff	SE	Grade diff	SE	Grade diff	SE	Grade diff	SE	Grade diff	SE	Grade diff	SE
0	0.38*	0.11	0.24*		0.11	0.28*	0.11	0.03	0.12	−0.08	0.13	−0.40*	0.14	−0.28*	0.12	−0.30*	0.14	−0.55*	0.10
1	0.37*	0.10	0.16		0.10	0.26*	0.11	0.02	0.11	−0.07	0.11	−0.32*	0.12	−0.27*	0.10	−0.25*	0.12	−0.50*	0.09
2	0.42*	0.10	0.22*		0.10	0.28*	0.10	0.04	0.10	−0.07	0.11	−0.22*	0.11	−0.17	0.10	−0.25*	0.12	−0.41*	0.09
3	0.09	0.08	−0.01		0.08	0.08	0.08	−0.08	0.08	−0.05	0.08	−0.10	0.09	−0.13	0.08	−0.18	0.08	−0.18*	0.07
4	0.10	0.07	0.02		0.07	0.13	0.08	0.05	0.07	0.00	0.08	−0.07	0.08	−0.11	0.08	−0.06	0.08	−0.23*	0.07
5	0.01	0.07	−0.04		0.07	0.07	0.07	−0.02	0.06	0.00	0.07	−0.05	0.07	−0.09	0.07	−0.07	0.07	−0.13	0.06
N	476		461			449		448		449		457		461		452		441

Decile 5 (average levels of test anxiety) forms the reference group. Decile 1 = least anxious and decile 10 = most anxious. Figures for GCSE total points scores in panel (a) refer to effect sizes, while figures for GCSE mathematics grades in panel (b) refer to differences in grades (e.g. a figure of 0.3 in panel (b) refers to around one-third of the GCSE mathematics grade). * indicates statistically significant difference from the reference group at the five per cent level. Model 0 does not include any controls. Model 1 controls for demographics. School fixed-effects are added in Model 2. PISA scores are added as controls in Model 3. Key Stage 2 scores (but not PISA scores) are added in Model 4. Model 5 includes both PISA scores and Key Stage 2 scores (along with demographics and school fixed-effects) as controls.