Test anxiety and demographic variables affecting academic achievement among undergraduate psychology students

Pages: 218-222
Khem Raj Bhatta and Bijay Rai (Central Department of Psychology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal)

Test anxiety, a form of anxiety expressed before, during or after the tests, is one of the factors linked to academic achievement of students. Test anxiety differs across various demographic variables such as gender, age, and year of study. These demographic variables are also related to the academic achievement of students. In this study we assessed the level of student’s test anxiety of psychology undergraduates and also investigates the relationship of academic achievement with respect to test anxiety and demographic variables with the use of multiple regression analysis. We use the data collected from psychology undergraduates studying in various private colleges of Kathmandu, Nepal. Altogether 382 students participated in this study. The Westside Test Anxiety Scale (Driscoll, 2007) was used to measure test anxiety level of students and the self-reported Grade Point Average (GPA) as an indicator of academic achievement. The results showed that (about 43% students) experienced moderate to extremely high test anxiety. Gender and the year of study were significant factors in test anxiety difference while age and life goal relation (to career choice) did not. Approximately 14% variance in academic achievement can be attributed to test anxiety and selected demographic variables (gender, age and year of study).