Test Anxiety Inventory

Abstract As Seymour Sarason (1959), a major early contributor to theory and research on test anxiety, observed, “We live in a test‐conscious, test‐giving culture in which the lives of people are in part determined by their test performance” (p. 26). Consequently, it is not surprising that test anxiety is a pervasive problem for many students who are so disturbed by the stress associated with taking tests that they experience substantial decrements in performance in evaluative situations. During examinations, individuals high in test anxiety are more likely to experience frequent and intense elevations in anxiety as an emotional state (S‐Anxiety), greater activation of the autonomic nervous system, and more self‐centered worry and task‐irrelevant thoughts that interfere with attention and performance. Given these characteristics, test anxiety can be viewed as a situation‐specific personality trait (Spielberger, Gonzalez, Taylor, Algaze, & Anton, 1978).