Responses of 100 students to the Test Anxiety Scale were used to classify subjects by level of anxiety. Order of perceived difficulty of test formats from easiest to hardest was multiple-choice, true-false, problem-solving, completion, interpretive exercise, and essay. Preferences for formats were different for groups high and low in anxiety, but no differences in perceived difficulty were noted.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BajtelsmitJ. W.The effects of test anxiety, intelligence, and test format on adult academic achievement. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Temple Univer., 1978.
2.
BensonJ.CrockerL.The effects of item format and reading ability on objective test performance: a question of validity. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 1979, 39, 381–387.
3.
FuquaR. W.Concurrent academic behaviors: the titration of preference for item format. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Univer. of Florida, 1977.
4.
HeimA. W.WattsK. P.An experiment on multiple-choice versus open-ended answering in a vocabulary test. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 1967, 37, 339–346.
5.
RowleyG. L.Which examinees are most favoured by the use of multiple choice tests?Journal of Educational Measurement, 1974, 11, 15–23.
6.
SarasonI. G.The Test Anxiety Scale: concept and research. In SpielbergerC. D.SarasonI. G. (Eds.), Stress and anxiety. Vol. 5. Washington: Hemisphere, 1978. Pp. 193–216.
7.
SaxG.Principles of educational and psychological measurement and evaluation. (2nd ed.) Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1980.
8.
WolffL. S.The influence of two types of classroom examinations on level of learning and test anxiety in tenth year mathematics. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, New York Univer., 1976.
