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Test Anxiety (test + anxiety)
Selected AbstractsTest anxiety, evaluative stress, and susceptibility to distraction from threatEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 2 2001Edmund Keogh Examinations are perhaps one of the main methods of assessment in education. Unfortunately, there are some individuals who are so fearful of such events that performance is impaired. Test anxiety is believed to be the trait that predisposes individuals to react negatively to examinations and tests. One way in which it is believed that test anxiety affects performance is by increasing susceptibility to distraction from task-irrelevant material. However, few studies have directly investigated this impairment. An experiment was therefore conducted to investigate susceptibility to distraction in high and low test-anxious students. The task used was based on one developed by Mathews, May, Mogg and Eysenck (1990), which distinguishes between focused attention and selective search. In order to determine whether a specific susceptibility to distraction exists, the distractors were varied in terms of valence and relevance to examinations. Since test anxiety is a situation-specific trait, an evaluation-related stressor was used to trigger test-anxious reactions. A specific susceptibility to distraction from threat was found amongst high test-anxious participants who received the evaluation-related stressor. However, this effect was only found when participants were using focused attention. This suggests that the disturbed performance often found to be associated with test anxiety might be due to an inability to ignore threatening material when attempting to focus attentional resources. These results are discussed in light of current theories of test anxiety and implications for educational practice. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Differences Between Self-Adapted and Computerized Adaptive Tests: A Meta-AnalysisJOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT, Issue 3 2001Angela K. Pitkin Self-adapted testing has been described as a variation of computerized adaptive testing that reduces test anxiety and thereby enhances test performance. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of these proposed effects of self-adapted tests (SATs); meta-analysis procedures were used to estimate differences between SATs and computerized adaptive tests (CATs) in proficiency estimates and post-test anxiety levels across studies in which these two types of tests have been compared. After controlling for measurement error, the results showed that SATs yielded proficiency estimates that were 0.12 standard deviation units higher and post-test anxiety levels that were 0.19 standard deviation units lower than those yielded by CATs. We speculate about possible reasons for these differences and discuss advantages and disadvantages of using SATs in operational settings. [source] The relationship of freshmen's physics achievement and their related affective characteristicsJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 8 2007Almer (Abak) Gungor Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine the best-fitting structural equation model between the freshmen's physics achievement and selected affective characteristics related to physics. These characteristics are students' situational interest in physics, personal interest in physics, aspiring extra activities related to physics, importance of physics, importance of electricity, physics course anxiety, physics test anxiety, physics achievement motivation, student motivation in physics, self-efficacy in physics, self-concept in physics, and locus of control. The researchers developed the affective characteristics questionnaire that consisted of 12 subdimensions, and has 53 items related to these subdimensions. The questionnaire was applied to 890 freshmen physics students at the universities in Ankara. Two models were tested: a unidimensional model and a multidimensional model. However, a third model, which is more similar to the multidimensional model, exhibited the best fit for the freshmen. Moreover, the results revealed that achievement motivation was the most influential affective characteristic on physics achievement. On the other hand, motivation in physics had a negative influence on physics achievement in the model, and the influence of the students' attitudes towards physics was not statistically significant. Thus, one should especially pay attention to the students' achievement motivation in physics if the aim is to increase students' physics achievement. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 1036,1056, 2007 [source] The Criterion-Related Validities and Perceived Fairness of the Situational Interview and the Situational Judgment Test in an Iranian OrganisationAPPLIED PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 1 2010Sara Banki The criterion-related validity coefficients of a situational interview (SI) and a situational judgment test (SJT) were investigated in a sales department of a government-owned automobile company in Iran. Both the SI and SJT had concurrent validity with job performance (n= 101, r= .28, r= .23, p < .05, respectively). Only the SI, however, had incremental validity over and above the SJT in predicting job performance. Furthermore, the SI fully mediated the relationship between SJT and job performance. The two methods did not differ significantly on employee motivation to perform well, perceived fairness, or test anxiety. Nevertheless, employees recommended the use of the SI over the SJT. Les coefficients de validité critérielle d'un entretien situationnel (SI) et d'un test de jugement situationnel (SJT) ont été calculés dans le service commercial d'une entreprise publique iranienne du secteur automobile. SI et SJT présentent tous les deux une validité concurrente avec la performance professionnelle (pour N = 101, r = .28 et .23 respectivement; sign. à .05). Toutefois, seul le SI bénéficie d'une validité incrémentielle par rapport au SJT dans la prédiction de la performance professionnelle. En outre, le SI contrôle totalement la relation entre le SJT et le critère. Les deux méthodes ne diffèrent pas significativement dans l'évaluation de la motivation au travail, de l'équité perçue ou de l'anxiété. Néanmoins les salariés préféraient le SI au SJT. [source] | |||||||||||||