Final exam is just around the corner. It is time to stop procrastinating and start spending more than six hours per day in the library. On the bright side, school is almost over, and, in about a month, we will be enjoying our 4-month summer vacation. However, it is still true that we become more and more anxious as our final approaches, regardless of this optimistic view. Is it possible to measure our level of test anxiety in a reliable way? Also, what is the relationship between our level of anxiety and our GPA?

Test anxiety inventory [TAI] (Spielberg, 1980) is one of the most widely used tests to determine test anxiety in both high school and university students. Made up of 20 questions ,TAI asks the frequency of anxiety that students experience before, during, and after taking a test. Moreover, TAI has two subscales — worry and emotionality. While ‘worry’ reflects cognitive concerns related to test taking, ‘emotionality’ indicates emotional responses associated with test taking. Spielberg (1980) found that TAI has a high level of reliability (overall Cronbach’s alpha = 0.92) as well as test-retest reliability (r = 0.80).

Using TAI, Chapell, Blanding, Silverstein, Takahashi, Newman and Gubi (2005) looked into the relationship between the level of test anxiety and GPA. They found that undergraduates with low level of stress averaged a B+, while those with high level of stress averaged a B. In other words, they found a negative correlation between test anxiety and GPA. As test anxiety increased, GPA of undergraduates decreased.

It looks like anxiety is not good for your grade. What are some strategies that you use to stay calm while studying for an exam and writing an exam? Please share them with us! Finally, good luck with your finals, guys!