Some of that anxiety is good, University of South Florida experts say, but too much can have a detrimental effect on test performance. But most of the research shows reducing anxiety actually improves performance. Some students are even afraid of reducing anxiety, wrongly thinking that it gives them an edge. Study anxiety interferes with concentration and leads to procrastination. Students are not the only ones affected.
Research shows that test anxiety is also a big predictor of job performance later in life.
The College Adjustment Scale, which Anton developed, is one of the best predictors of academic persistence and performance and can predict job retention, according to Anton. There are procedures that students can use to overcome their anxiousness, and counseling has proved to be very helpful. Spielberger developed the Test Anxiety Questionnaire, which measures personality traits that correlate with test performance. Additionally, Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory has become the international standard for measuring test anxiety, and has been translated and adapted in more than 60 languages and dialects. When taking a test, it helps to respond to those questions for which you know the answers instead of wasting time and becoming frustrated over questions for which no answer is immediately available, he said.