Test Anxiety: An Educational Intervention

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to examine the effectiveness of an intervention targeted at reducing test anxiety while improving test-taking skills and study strategies. Specifically, the current study explored the effectiveness of the intervention with a population of university students identified as having learning difficulties through the university's center for students with disabilities. Although not statistically significant, the current study did find meaningful differences (greater than 1 SD) among Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI) pretest and posttest scores for 2 of the 3 participants in the study after 4 weeks of intervention, all participants' self-reported Total TAI scores were lower following intervention. The current study did not find an increase in self-reported learning strategy usage from pretest to posttest among the participants. Additionally, all scores on the summative evaluation were positive. Specifically, participants strongly agreed that they had learned something new, it would benefit them in the future, they were happy with the sessions overall.