The relationship between test anxiety and learned helplessness

Abstract

The purpose in this study was to investigate the relationship between the test anxiety and learned helplessness levels of students preparing for the Turkish High Schools Placement Test (HSPT) and University Entrance Examination (UEE). The study was conducted with the participation of 708 students from Aksaray Province in Turkey, of whom 319 were preparing for HSPT and 389 were preparing for UEE. The Learned Helplessness Scale (Aydın, 1985; Seligman et al., 1984) and the Test Anxiety Scale (Baltaş, 1993) were used to collect data. Although HSPT students scored higher than UEE students for levels of anxiety and learned helplessness, there was no significant difference between level of test anxiety and learned helplessness (r = 0.048).