How do self-regulation and effort in test-taking contribute to undergraduate students’ critical thinking performance?

Figures & data

Figure 1. The structural equation model of the relationships between planning, monitoring, effort, time and critical thinking.

Table 1. Descriptive statistics of items of planning and monitoring in test-taking.

Scales	Items When working with the performance task …	Initial-stage students			Final-stage students
		n	Mean	SD	n	Mean	SD
Planning	I developed a plan for solving the problem. (SR1)	1436	3.38	0.90	815	3.47	1.17
	I went through the steps of the plan I had made to solve the problem in my mind. (SR4)	1427	3.35	0.90	808	3.37	1.19
	I imagined the parts of the problem I still had to complete. (SR3)	1423	3.70	0.79	812	3.75	1.02
	I carefully planned my course of action to solve the problem. (SR6)	1422	2.91	0.88	811	3.05	1.15
	Before writing the answer, I considered what it requires of me to solve the problem. (SR2)	1431	3.54	0.84	817	3.64	1.11
Monitoring	I checked my work all the way through the problem. (SR5)	1425	3.52	0.89	805	3.62	1.12
	I looked back and checked whether what I had done was right. (SR7)	1437	2.96	1.03	816	2.98	1.34
	I stopped and rethought a step I had already taken. (SR8)	1429	3.38	0.96	809	3.36	1.27
	I looked back at the problem to see if my answer made sense. (SR9)	1423	3.29	1.07	809	3.32	1.49

Table 2. Descriptive statistics of test-taking effort, test-taking time, and components of critical thinking.

	Initial-stage students			Final-stage students
	n	Mean	SD	n	Mean	SD
Test-taking effort	1467	3.37	0.70	829	3.53	0.89
Test-taking time (minutes)	1469	49.3	11.6	831	49.4	14.3
Analysis and problem-solving (APS)	1469	3.97	0.67	831	4.16	0.91
Writing effectiveness (WE)	1469	3.97	0.72	831	4.14	0.95
Writing mechanics (WM)	1469	4.23	0.72	831	4.49	0.92

Figure 2. The structural equation model of the relationships between planning, monitoring, effort, time and critical thinking among initial-stage students.

Figure 3. The structural equation model of the relationships between planning, monitoring, effort, time and critical thinking among final-stage students.

Table 3. Direct, total indirect and total effects in the model for initial-stage students.

	Direct	Total indirect	Total
Planning → Effort Planning → Time Planning → Critical thinking Effort → Time Effort → Critical thinking Time → Critical thinking	0.39 0.24 0.37 0.18 0.50	0.15 0.26 0.18	0.39 0.39 0.26 0.37 0.36 0.50

Table 4. Direct, total indirect and total effects in the model for final-stage students.

	Direct	Total indirect	Total
Planning → Effort Planning → Time Planning → Critical thinking Effort → Time Effort → Critical thinking Time → Critical thinking	0.45 0.20 0.36 0.18 0.41	0.16 0.23 0.15	0.45 0.36 0.23 0.36 0.33 0.41