The Four Ws of Test Anxiety

Abstract

Test anxiety refers to the tendency to appraise tests and test-like situations, where performance is evaluated, as threatening and respond with high levels of state anxiety. High levels of test anxiety are associated with lower performance on test and examinations, and may also meet diagnostic criteria for clinical anxiety. In this paper we review: (i), the importance of the test anxiety construct and consider whether test anxiety may constitute a risk factor for clinical anxiety, (ii), the theoretical antecedents of test anxiety, with a specific focus on the Self-Regulatory Executive Function (S-REF) Processing Model, and (iii), interventions for test anxiety in adolescents, with a specific focus on one cognitive-behavioural intervention, Strategies to Tackle Exam Pressure and Stress (STEPS). We bring the review to a close with a consideration of what the next steps might fruitfully be for research, theory, and intervention, and conclude there is much work still yet to be done in the field of test anxiety.

Keywords

• Test anxiety
• generalised anxiety
• panic
• self-regulation
• cognitive-behavioural intervention
• STEPS