Lesson 6 of 6 · When it is anxiety, and where to go
What the research shows, and what it does not settle
Two findings, and the second one is honest about its own limits.
One more thing about this step, said plainly rather than hidden. Everything on it is research and none of it is scripture, and that is a result rather than an oversight. We looked. There is nothing in the sound reports about working memory, about recall under pressure, or about going blank, and we searched the fatwa literature in English and in Arabic for anything on exam anxiety and found nothing there either. Where the sources do not speak to a question, this course says so, rather than reaching for a verse that happens to contain the word forget.
What the research says
Test anxiety splits into the physical part, the racing heart, and the thinking part, the worry and self monitoring during the exam. It was the thinking part that carried the link to performance, so that is where the work goes.
Test anxiety splits into two parts that behave differently. The physical part is the racing heart and the shaking. The thinking part is the worry and the self monitoring during the exam. It was the thinking part that carried the relationship with worse performance, which is why a student can feel physically settled enough and still lose marks.
Cassady JC, Johnson RE (2002). Cognitive test anxiety and academic performance. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 27(2), 270 to 295 doi
Thirty years of studies show test anxiety and exam performance consistently linked in the unwanted direction. The authors flag that measures differ a lot between studies and most are cross sectional, so the association is solid and the causal direction is not.
Thirty years of studies pooled. Test anxiety and exam performance are consistently linked in the unwanted direction. The authors flag that the measures differ a great deal between studies and that most of the designs are correlational, so this literature on its own does not settle which is causing which.
von der Embse N, Jester D, Roy D, Post J (2018). Test anxiety effects, predictors, and correlates: a 30-year meta-analytic review. Journal of Affective Disorders, 227, 483 to 493 doi