The Relationship between Test Anxiety and Academic Achievement of students at university level

Abstract

The major aim of this research study was to find out the relationship between test anxiety and academic achievement of students at university level. 237 students were randomly selected as a sample from six different departments in a public sector university in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI) developed by Spielberger was used for data collection. Pearson correlation, multivariate statistics and regression analyses were used for data analysis. Significant negative relationship was found between test anxiety scores and students’ achievement scores. Results showed that a cognitive factor (worry) contributes more in test anxiety than affective factors (emotional). Therefore, it is concluded that test anxiety is one of the factors which are responsible for students’ underachievement and low performance but it can be managed by appropriate training of students in dealing with factors causing test anxiety.