An investigation of the relationship between test anxiety and test performance of 8th grade students

The aim of the current study is to investigate the relationship between test anxiety and test performance of students at the 8th grade level. Additionally, the opinions of the students about factors affecting anxiety reduction were investigated by the interviews with students. A mixed method design was applied to answer the research questions. The number of participants is 40 8th graders. To collect the data, the test anxiety inventory was downloaded from the website of Ministry of National Education. The data was analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences software (SPSS), version 17.0. The relation between the test anxiety and test performance was investigated by using Pearson correlation. The results showed that there was a positive correlation between the test performance and one's self image and under-preparation. The gender factor was also analyzed to see if there was a difference between males and females in terms of anxiety. The results were discussed within the context of relevant literature. Key Words: Test Anxiety, Anxiety