Armah A Quick Guide
Test anxiety can negatively impact academic performance and mental well-being. The cycle of test anxiety involves equating poor performance with lack of intelligence, creating a feeling of threat, which disrupts attention and memory. Possible causes include the perceived stakes of failure, personal beliefs, parental pressure, high-stress testing environments, prior poor performance, genetic predisposition, and the academic institution’s environment. While some level of test anxiety can be beneficial, when it becomes overwhelming and affects daily functioning, it requires attention.
Introduction
To understand the causes of test anxiety and its cycle, consider the following case:
Amna has been struggling with test anxiety since she got admitted to one of the top medical schools. Her learning and grades suffer due to this. As a result, she often thinks she doesn’t deserve to be here since she is not smart enough. In addition to this, the competition and pressure in the school environment affect her mental health. She often compares herself with other students and thinks they are smarter than her. Every time before a test, she thinks she will fail and get kicked out of medical school. This adds to her anxiety and influences her performance further.
The test anxiety cycle
Like Amna, people with test anxiety incorrectly equate their poor academic performance to their not being smart enough. Whereas, in reality, the testing situation creates a feeling of threat within a person. This creates physiological and emotional arousal which disrupts their attention and memory. So, in the case of a student, even if he/she is intelligent and can retain the learned material, anxiety disrupts his/her memory retrieval process during the test. As a result, they get distracted and find it difficult to understand simple instructions or questions. Similarly, they have trouble recalling or organizing their thoughts and relevant information.
Once a person experiences test anxiety and is unable to perform well, they may develop the fear of it happening again. So much so that they become more anxious and nervous for the next test. Thus, test anxiety becomes a vicious cycle. If left unaddressed, the symptoms may persist, become intense and start to affect one’s daily functioning. In this case, it may take the shape of a social-phobia performance-based disorder.
Watch: [The Anxiety Cycle in 2 Minutes]
Possible causes of test anxiety
A few possible causes of test anxiety are stated as follows:
1. The probability of the threat happening
The anxiety response depends on the stakes of failure and a person’s perceived capacity to cope with it. For example, in Amna’s case, for her failing the test meant she will get kicked out of medical school. She might underestimate her coping capacity if that happens. So, here the stake is quite high, and perceived coping resources are low. This may contribute to an intense anxiety response and delayed recovery from it.
2. The person’s beliefs
One’s beliefs about personal competence affect how he/she perceives or analyzes the testing situation. If a person believes he/she is not smart, he/she will see the test as a threat and vice versa.
3. Parental pressure
Often, parents’ expectations to do well in academics, contributes to a person’s anxiety.
4. High-stress environment of the testing situation
This can include time constraints, unfavorable examiner characteristics, the difficulty of the task, etc. Accordingly, the presence of such factors in the testing environment may add to one’s anxiety.
5. Prior poor test performance
A person’s previous poor performance in the test may create additional pressure to do well in the next test.
6. Genetic component of anxiety in the family
Individuals may be more susceptible to experiencing test anxiety if there is a history of anxiety disorders or related conditions among their relatives.
7. The environment of the academic institution
If a student goes to an academic institute where grades are prioritized, competition is high and the environment is pressurizing, he/she is more likely to experience test anxiety.
Isn’t test anxiety beneficial?
Test anxiety can be helpful sometimes since it aids a person to prepare themself, be mentally active, and pushes one to work hard. However, when it becomes overwhelming and results in emotional and physical distress so much so that it affects one’s functioning, it is a cause for concern.
How common is test anxiety?
Researchers estimate that 25-40 percent of students experience test anxiety. So, even the most academically gifted student may not be able to perform to the best of his potential due to anxiety. Rest assured, you are not alone in this.
To understand more about test anxiety; read Test Anxiety & its signs: What is it and how to identify it? If you think you experience test anxiety more intensely than others, read the article How to Cope with Test Anxiety: 9 strategies for effective management.