Test Anxiety, GSR and Academic Achievement

Abstract

To determine the relationship between a self-report measure of test anxiety and GSRs recorded during an actual course examination, GSRs were obtained from 57 Ss on two separate occasions; the first involving neutral questions and the second, psychology examination questions. A low-reactive and a high-reactive group were identified on the basis of GSR responses to the neutral questions. During the actual examination situation, the GSRs of the low-reactive group were raised but still remained small in comparison to the GSRs of the high-reactive group. In the low-reactive group, Ss high in test anxiety responded with significantly larger GSRs than Ss low in test anxiety.