Journal of Educational Psychology

1980, Vol. 72, No. 1,16-20

Test Anxiety and Academic Performance:

The Effects of Study-Related Behaviors
Ralph E. Culler and Charles J. Holahan
University of Texas at Austin

This study investigated (a) the relationship of test anxiety to academic perfor-
mance in college students, (b) differences in study-related behaviors between
high and low test-anxious individuals, and (c) differential effectiveness of
study-related behaviors for both groups. Subjects were 65 high and 31 low
test-anxious first-semester freshmen. Results demonstrated a significant
decrement in grade-point average associated with test anxiety. High test-
anxious students were also found to have poorer study skills. For high test-
anxious students; quality of study habits and amount of study time were posi-
tively related to academic performance, whereas missing classes and delaying
e&ams were inversely related to performance. Findings are discussed in terms
of the prevailing interference model of test anxiety.

Test anxiety has developed from a novel
research area in the 1950s to a field of major
educational interest. The scope of the
problem of test anxiety is documented by
literally dozens of studies examining ways of
treating test-anxious individuals (Spielber-
ger, Anton, & Bedell, 1975). Studies relating
test anxiety to academic performance in
college students have generally supported
the finding that test anxiety is associated
with a significant performance decrement
reflected in students' grade point averages
(GPAs) (Allen, Lerner, Wayne, & Hinrich-
sen, 1972; Alpert & Haber, 1960; Carrier &
Jewell, 1966; Desiderate & Koskinen,
1969).
Current test-anxiety theory is based pri-
marily on an interference model. Anxiety
is thought to produce task-irrelevant re-
sponses (concern for passing, thoughts of
leaving, etc.) in the testing situation that
interfere with the task-relevant responses
necessary for good test performance (Man-
dler & Sarason, 1952; Sarason, 1972; Wine,
This study was conducted by the first author in par-
tial fulfillment of the requirements for the PhD degree.
He wishes to thank the members of his dissertation
committee for their advice and suggestions in con-
ducting this study: Charles J. Holahan, Ira Iscoe, John
Loehlin, Frank Richardson, and June Gallessich.
Requests for reprints should be sent to Ralph E.
Culler, The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, Uni-
versity of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712.
Copyright 1980 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 0022-0663/80/7201 -0016S00.75
1971). Support for the existence of such
responses has come from the work of Morris
and Liebert (1970) on the emotional and
cognitive components of test anxiety. The
cognitive component, called worry, has been
shown to correlate strongly with academic
performance. Wine (1971) suggested that
the debilitating effects of test anxiety on
performance may have an attentional ex-
planation. Wine feels that high test-anxious
students become preoccupied with (task-
irrelevant) worry responses and do not de-
vote enough attention to the test-taking
task.
The interference model assumes that the
effect of test anxiety on performance occurs
in the testing situation; that is, anxiety
during tests interferes with the student's
ability to retrieve and use information that
is known well. Recent work has questioned
some of the assumptions of the interference
model, for example, Holroyd, Westbrook,
Wolf, and Bodhorn (1978). An alternative
interpretation of the interference model is
that test anxiety represents a problem of
broader behavioral scope and that the test
anxiety/academic performance relationship
is at least partially a function of differential
study-related behaviors between high and
low test-anxious individuals. A small
amount of available evidence lends support
to the interpretation. Wittmaier (1972)
showed that high test-anxious students had

16
 ANXIETY AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
significantly lower levels of study skill com-
petence when compared to low test-anxious
students. The importance of study skill
training as a component in test-anxiety
treatment programs was demonstrated by
Allen (1971). Mitchell and Ng (1972) found
similar results and concluded that "A re-
duction in test anxiety is no guarantee of
subsequent improvement in academic per-
formance when the level of study habit
competence is ignored" (p. 496).
The purpose of the present study was to
examine the potential role of differential
study-related behaviors on the relationship
of test anxiety to academic performance.
Specifically, this study proposed (a) to rep-
licate the findings from previous studies
(Allen et al, 1972; Alpert & Haber, 1960;
Carrier & Jewell, 1966; Desiderate & Kosk-
inen, 1969) that test anxiety is associated
with a significant decrement in GPA; (b) to
extend initial work (Wittmaier, 1972) dem-
onstrating differential study skill compe-
tence as a function of test anxiety to examine
possible differences in a range of study-re-
lated behaviors between high and low test-
anxious individuals; and (c) to examine the
effects of different study-related behaviors
on GPA in both high and low test-anxious
individuals.
Method
Subjects
Subjects in the study were first-semester freshmen
enrolled in an introductory psychology course. At the
beginning of the semester, 800 students were pretested
on'the Test Anxiety Scale (TAS; Sarason, Pederson,
& Nyman, 1968). Freshmen scoring in the upper and
lower 25th percentile were identified. To control for
statistical regression and to avoid the selection of stu-
dents who were generally anxious about beginning
college, the upper and lower cutoffs were applied again
to a second administration of the TAS during the last
2 weeks of the semester, and subjects who scored in the
upper and lower 25th percentiles on both test admin-
istrations were selected for the study. This procedure
resulted in a final sample of 65 high test-anxious and 31
low test-anxious subjects.
Procedure
The TAS is a 37-item scale reported by Sarason et al.
(1968). The test items are statements relating to the
experience of test-related anxiety and its physiological
17
correlates. Subjects responded on a 4-point scale rather
than the true-false format used by Sarason et al. Along
with the second administration of the TAS during the
last 2 weeks of the semester, subjects were asked to
complete the 50-item Study Habits scale of the Survey
of Study Habits and Attitudes (Brown & Holtzman,
1967). Subjects responded to statements about the
nature and style of their study behavior on a 5-point
scale (1 = rarely; 5 = almost always). In addition,
subjects were asked to complete a questionnaire de-
signed by the investigators to obtain information about
a number of other study-related behaviors. These in-
cluded the following:
Study hours. Students were asked to estimate the
number of hours spent studying per week for each
course taken during the semester. The course by course
estimates were totaled, yielding a measure of total
weekly study hours for each subject.
Cramming. Students were asked to estimate the
degree to which they crammed in preparation for tests
and exams by responding on a 7-point scale to the item,
"In preparing for an exam, do you generally" (1 = work
uniformly through the semester; 7 « "cram" the night
before the exam).
Classes missed. Students were asked to estimate the
total number of classes they missed during the semester
for each course they were taking. The course by course
estimates were totaled, yielding a total number of
missed classes for each subject.
Late exams. Students were asked to estimate the
total number of exams or tests they missed and made
up at a later date during the semester for each course
they were taking. The course by course estimates were
totaled, yielding a total number of late exams for each
subject.
Finally, the semester's GPA for each subject was
obtained from the University's registrar at the com-
pletion of the semester.
Results and Discussion
The mean GPA for the low test-anxious
group was 2.86 in contrast with 2.51 for the
high test-anxious group. The difference of
.25 points was significant by a t test, t(94) =
2.24, p < .03. This finding replicates earlier
work by Allen et al. (1972), Alpert and Haber
(1960), and Desiderate and Koskinen (1969)
demonstrating a significant decrement in
GPA associated with test anxiety. Table 1
shows the results of a chi-square analysis of
the test-anxiety groups split by above/below
a GPA of 2.00. A GPA of 2.00 (on a scale of
0-4) is generally considered a cutoff for
success in college, since it is a requirement
for graduation. Twenty-nine percent of the
high test-anxious group failed to meet this
minimal criterion during their first semester
of college work. This result, using a test-
anxiety measure, is even more striking than
18 RALPH E. CULLER AND CHARLES J. HOLAHAN
Table 1 Table 3
Frequencies and Percentages for Above/Below^ Pearson Product-Moment Correlations of GPA
2.00 GPA by Test Anxiety Group ' With the Five Coping Variables
High test Low test High test Low test
anxiety anxiety Variable anxiety anxiety

GPA Frequency Frequency Study habits .44*** .46**

Total study hours .30* -.10
Less than 2.00 19 29 2 7 Cramming -.21 -.30
Above 2.00 46 71 29 93 Missing classes -.47*** -.19
Late exams -.31* -.32
Note. GPA = grade-point average. %2(1) = 5.11, p < .03.
* p < .05. ** p < .01. *** p < .001.
Spielberger's (1962) finding that 17% of
students scoring high on manifest anxiety, There was a significant positive correlation
versus only 5% of low manifest anxiety between GPA and scores on the study habits
subjects, become academic dropouts. scale. High test-anxious students who had
Table 2 shows the results of group com- developed and exercised better study skills
parisons on the five study-related behavior did better academically than those with poor
variables. The difference in study skill level study habits. The findings here, and of
(Study Habits scale) between the two groups other studies relating study habits, test
replicates an earlier finding by Wittmaier anxiety, and GPA (Allen, 1971; Mitchell &
(1972), who also demonstrated reduced Ng, 1972), tend to contradict the common
study skills in high test-anxious students. stereotype of the high test-anxious student
The difference in reported hours of study who knows the subject matter but "freezes
between the two groups, with the high test- up" at test time. These findings suggest
anxious students reporting significantly that at least part of the academic perfor-
more study time than low test-anxious stu- mance decrement may be due to less
dents, was surprising, since it was in contrast knowledge of the relevant material as a
to their reported study competencies. This function of differential study skills.
may indicate that high test-anxious students The amount of study time per week was
attempt to compensate for their lower study significantly correlated with GPA for the
competence by increasing the amount of high test-anxious group but, interestingly,
total study time. was not for the low-anxious group. This
Table 3 shows the results of correlations result indicates that high test-anxious stu-
between the five coping variables and GPA dents can compensate, to a degree, for their
for the high and low test-anxious groups. lack of study skills by studying more hours.
The superior study skill competence of the
Table 2 low-anxious subjects may have rendered the
Means, Standard Deviations, and t-Test amount of study time (above a minimum
Results for the Five Coping Variables level) relatively unimportant.
Although the correlation between
High test Low test cramming and GPA was not significant for
anxiety anxiety the high test-anxious sample, it was negative
for both groups and significantly so (p < .05)
Variable M SD M SD for the entire sample. Cramming may be
Study habits 37.2 14.8 53.4 14.2 5.42*
less a negative behavior in itself than an in-
Total study 21.7 12.7 14.1 7.0 -3.11* dication of the student's failure to ade-
hours quately prepare well in advance of the test.
Cramming 4.5 1.4 4.7 1.4 .57 Interestingly, there was only a small differ-
Missing 10.5 7.7 10.7 11.1 .08 ence between the high and low test-anxious
classes
Late exams .6 1.1 .3 .6 -1.52
groups on this variable that is often thought
to be an indicator of test anxiety.
' p < .002. The total number of missed classes per
 ANXIETY AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
semester was significantly (negatively) cor-
related with semester GPA for the high
test-anxious group. Interestingly, although
the correlation was also negative for the low
group, it was much smaller (r = —.19) and
was not significant. One might speculate
that the superior study skills of the low
test-anxious students ameliorated the neg-
ative effects of missing classes.
Both groups evidenced correlations of
about —.30 for GPA and late exams, but be-
cause of the difference in the size of the two
ns, the correlation was significant only for
the high-anxious group. Taking a make-up
exam is probably also indicative of poor
preparation (and thus poor study habits) for
the first exam. It should be noted that the
present study relied heavily on self-report
measures. Future research might include
provisions for the collection of more directly
observable study-behavior data (cf. Home
& Matson, 1977).
Test-anxiety theories have tended to ex-
plain how test anxiety affects performance
in the testing situation. Inadequate atten-
tion has been addressed to the effect of study
behavior on the test anxiety/academic per-
formance relationship. The influence of
study skills on the performance decrement
of high test-anxious students questions the
notion that the test-anxious individual's only
problem is the retrieval or use of information
that is known well in the testing situation.
The study skill difference between high and
low test-anxious students and the relation-
ship of study habits to GPA suggests that
there may be a difference between high and
low test-anxious students in how familiar
they are with the test material.
The influence of study on the test anxi-
ety/performance effect is difficult to explain
in terms of an interference model such as the
attentional explanation of Wine (1971).
The anxiety (which produces the interfering
or attention-diverting worry responses) is
ostensibly still present in the testing situa-
tion. How, then, can study behavior, which
is external to the testing situation, affect the
performance decrement? One explanation
is that the worry responses generated in the
testing situation are a product of both the
increased anxiety and the knowledge that
there has not been adequate preparation for
19
the test. This would mean that the student
with good study skills (and thus well pre-
pared) might experience less worry (and thus
have more attention for the test-taking task)
in the testing situation. Recent evidence
regarding the relationship of worry to per-
formance expectancy (Morris & Liebert,
1970) is consistent with this explanation.
This reinterpretation of the interference
theory would also explain why treatment for
test anxiety itself (one component of the
worry response) plus study skills training
(the second component) is more effective
than either alone (Allen, 1971; Mitchell &
Ng, 1972).
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Received February 26,1979 •