Examination of secondary school students’ test anxiety with regards to some variables

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to examine the test anxiety of secondary school students with regards to some variables.The population of this research is consisted of all secondary school students within İstanbul Küçükçekmece Municipality borders. In this research 6 secondary schools (from lower, mid and upper socio-economic levels) were chosen randomly and 420 students attended the study voluntarily. Students were asked to fill test anxiety scale and demographic questionnaire developed by the researcher. Mann-Whitney U test was used to analyze the significance between mean differences of two independent samples. For more than two independent samples, Krusal-Wallis test was used, and the group differences were confirmed via Mann-Whitney test. According to the results, female students whose families are divorced or separated, students who claimed to be extrovert and who could not find any support to study showed higher test anxiety. Those with lower economic conditions and education levels showed higher test anxiety as well as those who do not receive counseling services. Students who have authoritarian parents also showed higher test anxiety.Anxiety is generally known as stress and annoying situation; however certain amount of anxiety is necessary for success. This study is thought to be an asset for the professionals working in the education field, since it clearly shows the relationship between test anxiety and some other variables.