test anxiety causes students to under-perform in examinations. Discuss.

TEST ANXIETY CAUSES STUDENTS TO UNDERPERFORM IN EXAMINATIONS

It has been a common alibi or shall we at least consider a reason for students who did not performed well in examinations that they got nervous or anxious during the exams . Underperformance in examinations however are results of several factors including unpreparedness , lack of skill in the specific course where the exam has been taken or some sort of health-related reasons . It is however important to stress that whichever of these factors present or maybe all of these in the student are taking

the exams anxiety is a normal in humans

Health experts regard anxiety as the body 's response to something threatening in the environment (M . Despain . Actually , anxiety is positively considered as 1helpful tool in boosting the human mind to perform at normal levels by keeping us alert , focused , motivated and energized . Research indicates that the optimal amount of stress to maximize performance is a moderate degree . Anxiety as a form of stress maximizes performance at normal level but negatively affects performance at either too low or too high levels . Further , physical symptoms of anxiety do not interfere with exam performance but what is going on in the mind of the one taking the exams (D . Palmer , pg .2 . Anxiety works in stressful situations as worries that interfere with concentration . But what are important to find out first are the causes or sources of anxiety

There are many sources or causes of anxiety which range from lack of preparation , too much worries about the past , present and future situations including self expectations and a consideration of the expectation of others . Poor time management resulting to cramming , poor study habits and inefficient organization of either materials or information required in the examination . Putting attention on unnecessary things and thoughts also contribute a lot to the student 's anxiety . Thinking too much of what the other students have been doing with notions as are they done ' or I am already behind ' are things that unnecessarily consumes time and concentration on unrelated matters Anticipating the reactions of others and anticipation of a failure to meet expectations can also add up to the anxiety of the student taking away his concentration from understanding the questions and of recalling the right way of answering them . The sum of all of these possibilities can be expressed in just two general hypotheses . First test anxiety is a product of the student 's underestimation of his ability or resources available to perform well in the examination . Second test anxiety is a normal reaction of the student 's knowledge of his lack of preparation There are certain theoretical models that offer explanations and arguments as to the effect of anxiety to the test performance of the student . Two of the most famous and conflicting models are the interference model and the deficit model . Interference model asserts that test anxiety is accompanied by lower test performance and that anxiety directly and negatively interferes with test performance (I .G Sarason...