International Journal of Assessment Tools in Education

2020, Vol. 7, No. 4, 522–534

https://doi.org/10.21449/ijate.793084
Published at https://ijate.net/ https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/ijate Research Article

Construction and Standardization of Examination Anxiety Scale for

Adolescent Students

Nargis Abbasi 1,*, Shilpi Ghosh 2

1
Department of Education, Magrahat College, South 24 Parganas. Pin- 743355, West Bengal, India
2
Department of Education, Vidya Bhavana, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, Pin-731235, West Bengal, India

ARTICLE HISTORY Abstract: This research paper describes the method of construction and
standardization of a tool to measure examination anxiety of adolescent students.
Received: Apr. 07, 2020
2030 students belonging to the age group of 13-15 years from 19 schools under
Revised: Aug. 20, 2020 West Bengal Board of Secondary Education, participated in this research. The first
Accepted: Sep. 05, 2020 draft of examination anxiety scale consisted 40 items. After reviewing the items
and item analysis, the number of items were reduced to 38. EFA was carried out on
obtained data. EFA revealed that total 21 items having factor loading greater
KEYWORDS than .40, are selected. They distributed under four factors such as, Bodily
Examination anxiety, symptoms, Cognitive, Emotional reaction and behavioural reaction. CFA was
executed on another sample group, consisted of 402 number of adolescent students
Adolescent, of age group13-15. CFA results also supported the results of EFA. All the goodness
Scale construction, of fit indices showed that the model is a good fit model. For concurrent validity,
Examination Anxiety Scale made by researcher and Test Anxiety Inventory by
Scale standardization Spielberger were administered on the same occasion on 110 school students of the
age group13-15. Coefficient of correlation of two scales was estimated. The
validity of Examination anxiety Scale is 0.71. The reliability coefficient of the
examination anxiety scale using test-retest, split half and Cronbach’s alpha
methods were 0.801, 0.767, 0.764 respectively. Norms show that 16 percent of the
students belong to the high examination anxiety group, 66 percent of the students
in average examination anxiety group and 18 percent in low examination anxiety
group.

1. INTRODUCTION
Zeidner (1992) corroborates, “contemporary society is best described as test-oriented and test
consuming”. In this context, famous psychologist Sarason (1959) implies, “We live in a test
conscious, test-giving culture in which the lives of people are in part determined by their test
performance”. In present scenario test or examination is most prominent cause of anxiety
among students. Generally, students feel the utmost fear of examination by anticipating their
poor performances and failure, this causes examination anxiety. In fact, examination anxiety is
an unpredictable worry about the consequence regarding performance, fear of being assessed,
and the apprehension about the results. It also includes irrational thoughts, unnecessary
demands and expectation, and catastrophic predictions. Examination anxiety is supposed to be
“a major factor contributing to a variety of negative outcomes, including psychological distress,

CONTACT: Nargis Abbasi  [email protected]  Department of Education, Magrahat College,

Magrahat College, S. 24 Parganas, Pin-743355, West Bengal, India

ISSN-e: 2148-7456 /© IJATE 2020

522
 Int. J. Assess. Tools Educ., Vol. 7, No. 4, (2020) pp. 522–534

academic underachievement, academic failure, and insecurity” (Hembree, 1988). A student

with an optimum level of anxiety performs well in the examination but excessive level of
examination anxiety deteriorates the performances in examination (Abbasi & Ghosh, 2020).
According to Zeidner (1998) “many students have the ability to do well on exams, but perform
poorly because of their debilitating levels of anxiety. Consequently, test anxiety may limit
educational or vocational development, as test scores and grades influence entrance to many
educational or vocational training programs in modern society”. Wine (1971) implied that both
self-relevant and task-relevant variables are attended by those people who have high test anxiety
at the time of examination; on the other hand, those people who have low test-anxiety generally
attend to task-relevant variables. In fact, those people have high test anxiety envisage in the
time of examination.
Examination anxiety causes a couple of problems. However, each student has different
symptoms, having different levels of intensity. Shukla (2013) categorized these symptoms
under four dimensions.
i) Physical - nausea or diarrhea, extreme body temperature changes, dry mouth, headache,
sweating, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, light-headedness,
ii) Emotional –feeling of helplessness, anger, excessive feelings of fear, uncontrollable
crying, disappointment, depression,
iii) Behavioural – substance abuse, fidgeting, avoidance, pacing,
iv) Cognitive – negative thinking, the difficulty of organizing thought, negative self-talk,
racing thoughts, comparing yourself to others, “going blank”, difficulty concentrating,
and feelings of dread.
According to McDonald (2010), 10 - 40 percent of all students are severely affected by
examination anxiety. The percentage also increases in the case of the formal examination. The
examination anxiety is a very serious problem of modern times; its consequences are found in
several forms like trauma, psychological disorder, and suicide, as reported in the newspaper
during the period of examination.
According to National Crime Bureau (NCB, 2015), there is a shocking report in the context of
India that 2646 students, more than 7 per day in each year, are found to commit suicide due to
failure in examinations. In 2014 the number was marginally lower- 2403 (NCB, 2014).
In present times, test anxiety measures are constructed to reveal a “bio-psychosocial model” of
test anxiety, which hypothesizes the notion that test anxiety is revealed through ‘behavioural,
cognitive and physiological symptoms’ (Lowe et al., 2008 & Embse et al., 2013).
Whereas Sarason et al. (1960), being earlier examination anxiety researchers interpreted the
concept of test anxiety on the basis of one dimension, but later, Libert and Moris (1967) divided
test anxiety into two components- one is “worry,” and another is “emotionality”. However, in
the 1980s, more significantly the detailed definition of the dimension “worry” was proposed,
such as “irrelevant thinking” and “worry” (Sarason, 1984), “worry” and “fear of failure”
(Covington, 1985), and “distraction” and “low self-confidence” (Hodapp & Benson, 1997).
Thus, it can be inferred from the past studies that the concept of examination anxiety has
evolved into a multi-layered notion with several dimensions of responses, as reported by
Zeidner (1998), that includes behavioral, physiological, and emotional and thinking
components. Based on these deductions, this study focuses on the four major components of
the examination anxiety scale. These are worry, emotional reaction, bodily symptoms, and
behavioral reaction.
The first measurement instrument for examination anxiety was devised by Mandler and Sarason
in 1952. This test anxiety questionnaire having 42 items aims at measuring the experience
before and during intelligence test and course examination. Six years later, another Test Anxiety

523
 Abbasi & Ghosh

Scale consisting of 21 items, was developed by Sarason (1958). Finally, in 1972 Sarason
developed test anxiety scale with 37 items. Suinn (1969) developed Test Anxiety Behaviour
Scale, another global measurement scale having 50 items, efficiently assesses the behavioral
condition at the time of examination anxiety. Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI) was developed by
Spielberger and its Associates (1980). The TAI, a standardized measurement scale for test
anxiety, consists of 20 items that separate worry and emotionality and, at the same time, yields
total score of examination anxiety. Actually, many more examination anxiety measures are
found in the global perspective, but examination anxiety measures on the basis of Indian
perspectives are rarely found. So this research aims at developing a scale that measures the
examination anxiety of adolescents.
The main purpose of the study is to construct a standardized examination anxiety scale for
adolescent students. The study also aims at computing reliability and validity of the scale.
2. METHOD
2.1. Population
The population of the study includes the adolescent students of the age group of 13-15 years,
studying in schools under the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education.
2.2. Sample
2030 students of whom age group ranges 13-15 years of 19 schools of West Bengal Board of
Secondary Education of West Bengal were selected as sample for the first participant group.
The sample of the study was selected from Jalpaiguri, Coochbihar, Darjeeling, S. Dinajpur,
South 24 Parganas, Burdwan, and Kolkata district of West Bengal. Boys and girls of class IX
and X, from rural and urban areas of West Bengal, were selected.
For Confirmatory factorial analysis, like Akkus (2019) also did, a different sample was taken.
In this present study the researchers also selected 402 numbers of students of whom age group
ranges 13-15 years from 7 schools of West Bengal Board of Secondary Education as sample
for Confirmatory factorial analysis.
2.3. Construction of Scale
The first step of the construction of the Examination Anxiety Scale (EAS) is to construct the
items. The researchers constructed both positive and negative items reflecting examination
anxiety of the students.
The researcher studied related literature on examination anxiety in order to collect and construct
items. Teachers and students provided much information about the examination anxiety of the
students. With the help of this information the researchers constructed items reflecting the
examination anxiety of the students.
The researchers constructed the first draft of the Examination Anxiety Scale. The first draft of
the Examination Anxiety Scale (EAS) consisted of 40 items. 28 items were positive items and
12 of the items were negative items.
The primary Examination Anxiety scale (EAS) is divided into four subscales or sub-points;
1. Bodily Symptoms Subscale
2. Cognitive (Worry Subscale)
3. Emotional Reaction Subscale
4. Behavioural Reaction Subscale
2.4. Evaluation by Experts and Reconstruction of the Tool
The items were prepared by the researchers and evaluated by the experts of the subject and
language. The researchers followed their suggestions and made necessary modifications in the

524
 Int. J. Assess. Tools Educ., Vol. 7, No. 4, (2020) pp. 522–534

Examination Anxiety Scale. This modified Examination Anxiety Scale (EAS) consisted of 40
items.
2.5. Scoring Key
The scale consists of a 5-point Likert scale. The five options given are strongly agree, agree,
undecided, disagree, and strongly disagree. Table 1 and Table 2 show the scoring code of
positive items and negative items respectively.
Table 1. Scoring for positive items
Types of rating Strongly agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly disagree
Score 5 4 3 2 2

Table 2. Scoring for negative items

Types of rating Strongly agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly disagree
Scores 1 2 3 4 5

As each response weighted from 1 to 5, the minimum Examination Anxiety Scale (EAS) total
score is 40, and the maximum total score is 200. The Examination Anxiety Scale (EAS) has
four subscales which measure the four major components of examination anxiety. The
subscales are Bodily Symptoms (EAS/Bo) Worry (EAS/W), Emotionality (EAS/E) and
Behavioural Reaction (EAS/B). Worry refers to the cognitive side of anxiety (Sarason, 1984).
The items in EAS/Bo subscale are: 4, 6, 11, 15, 16, 18, 27, 32, 33, 35
The items in EAS/W subscale are: 1, 5, 12, 13, 14, 17, 22, 23, 24, 28, 37, 38, 39, 40
The items in EAS/E subscale are: 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 19, 21, 29, 30, 34, 36
The items in EAS/ Be subscale are: 10, 20, 25, 26, 31.
2.6. Administration of the Scale
The draft Examination anxiety scale (EAS) consisting of 40 items was administered on a group
of 2030 students belonging to the age group 13-15 years for item analysis and exploratory factor
analysis. The sample was drawn from the 19 schools under West Bengal Board of Secondary
Education. The schools included students from both rural and urban areas of the state. The
researchers explained the purpose of the administration of the examination anxiety scale to the
students. A clear instruction was given by the researchers regarding how to respond the items
of the test. Then, the final draft of EAS was administered on the second participant group, which
comprised of 402 number of school students for Confirmatory factor analysis.
3. RESULTS
3.1. Item Analysis
On the basis of the total score of each respondent, the researcher selected upper 27% cases of
the whole group as a high score group and lower 27% cases of the whole group as a low score
group. After that t- test value was calculated between two groups. t values of each item are
shown in Table 3. The items which have t value of less than 1.96 have been rejected. According
to Table 3, all the items except, 30 & 39 are significant. The researcher decided to select all the
significant items which are significant and higher than 1.96 t value for the second draft of the
scale.

525
 Abbasi & Ghosh

Table 3. t value of the items of Examination Anxiety Scale (Item discrimination index)
Item no t value Item No. t value Item no. Value
1 23.067 2 20.151 3 -22.377
4 24.005 5 -10.302 6 14.069
7 22.157 8 26.972 9 29.992
10 18.091 11 29.382 12 -22.788
13 22.482 14 -24.753 15 19.585
16 21.586 17 16.125 18 -24.036
19 -6.917 20 18.293 21 19.702
22 15.097 23 16.511 24 -10.141
25 17.711 26 20.451 27 20.403
28 17.829 29 -17.746 30 -1.276
31 19.116 32 16.843 33 25.896
34 -6.407 35 18.297 36 17.018
37 22.507 38 19.480 39 -1.742
40 -5.153

3.2. Validity
Freeman (1960) interpreted validity as; "An index of validity shows the degree to which a test
measures what it purposes to measure when compared with accepted criteria.".The validity of
the Examination Anxiety Scale was determined by the following method.
3.2.1. Construct Validity
3.2.1.1. Exploratory factor analysis
The principal component analysis was carried out on the data for factor analysis. Varimax
orthogonal technique was used for rotation. After analysis, 17 items are eliminated as they were
distributed under multiple factors, and their factor loading less was than 0.4. Only 21 items
were selected for the final draft. The 21 items were distributed under 4 factors.

Figure 1. Scree plot showing four factors.

According to Figure 1, there was a sharp drop in the first four factors. They had a noteworthy
contribution to variance explanation. According to Nancy et al. (2005), Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin
(KMO) measures should be higher than 0.70. In our study, the KMO value was 0.851, which is
greater than 0.70. It indicates that enough items are predicted by each factor. Bartlett's test of

526
 Int. J. Assess. Tools Educ., Vol. 7, No. 4, (2020) pp. 522–534

sphericity was computed as 8108.15, and p-value is 0.00, which is less than 0.05 at the 95%
significant level. It indicates that the research sample was significantly suitable for the analysis
of the study. The Scree plot was shown in Figure 1.
Table 4. Factor loading after varimax rotation and extracted communalities and eigenvalues
Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3 Factor 4
Items Communality
(Bodily Symptoms) (Cognitive) (Emotional) (Behavioral)
32 0.600 0.762
4 0.441 0.649
6 0.413 0.638
16 0.377 0.583
18 0.373 0.569
11 0.422 0.562
12 0.391 0.661
14 0.436 -0.624
24 0.463 -0.620
13 0.482 0.613
37 0.366 0.496
8 0.470 0.652
9 0.416 -0.635
29 0.427 -0.596
19 0.511 -0.525
36 0.403 0.434
20 0.588 .667
25 0.489 .597
10 0.461 .576
31 0.435 .458
26 0.389 0.410
Eigenvalue 4.615 2.064 1.422 1.259
Explained
13.289 12.589 9.443 9.257
Variance
Total
44.570
variance

Table 4 presents the results of factor analysis. Factor analysis reported four strong factors with
an eigen value greater than 1.00. The four factors were i) Bodily symptoms, ii) Cognitive (worry
subscale), iii) Emotional reaction, and iv) Behavioural reaction
All item loading exceeded .40. 21 items were selected in final form of the scale out of which,
six items are reversed items. All four factors together explain 44.165 % of total variance. The
1st 2nd, 3rd, and 4th factors explain 13.289, 12.589, 9.443, and 9.257% of total variances,
respectively. When four factors were extracted, the highest communality is 0.607 for item 32,
and the lowest communality is 0.365 for item 37.
3.2.1.2. Confirmatory factor analysis
Confirmatory factor analysis was done in order to determine the construct validity of EAS to
verify that the items fit with four-factor model. For confirmatory factor analysis, data were
collected from a separate sample. The sample comprised of 402 student studying class IX and
X of West Bengal.
Confirmatory factor analysis was run through Amos 24.0 software. According to Browne &
Cudeck (1932) a model is considered as a good fit if the 𝜒 2 /𝑑𝑓 ≤ 2 (as cited in Akkus, 2019).
Confirmatory factor analysis results showed that 𝜒 2 /𝑑𝑓 ratio is 1.823. It indicates that the
exact fit hypothesis was accepted. The root means square error of approximation (RMSEA)

527
 Abbasi & Ghosh

value is 0.045. Goodness of fit index (GFI) value is 0.927, Adjusted goodness of fit index
(AGFI) value is 0.908, Normal fit index (NFI) value is 0.709, and Comparative fit index (CFI)
value is 0.890. All fit indices show that the model is a good fit model.
If RMSEA value is ≤ 0.05, then it means that the model is a good fit. And the RMSEA value ≤
0.08 indicates the model fits well with reasonable error (MacCallum, Browne, & Sagawara,
1996). Most well fit model possesses GFI, AGFI, CFI value ≥ 0.9 for a strong model (Finch,
Immekus, & French, 2016). Finally, it can be concluded that the EAS model is a good fit model.
Confirmatory factorial analysis with standardized result is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Confirmatory Factor Analysis with Standardized Results.

4.2.2. Concurrent validity

In the present study for concurrent validity, the Examination Anxiety Scale (EAS) made by the
researcher and Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI) by Spielberger (1980) were administered on the
same occasion on 110 school students of class 9 and 10 of Harirampur Betna High School of
South Dinajpur district. Data were collected, and the coefficient of correlation of two scales
was estimated. According to Table 5, the concurrent validity of Examination Anxiety Scale is
0.71. So the validity of the scale is good. Hence, the scale is valid.
Table 5. Correlation coefficient between Examination Anxiety Scale (EAS) and TAI by Spielberger
Examination Anxiety Scale Spielberger TAI
Examination Anxiety Scale 1
0.71
Correlation
Spielberger TAI 0.71
1
Correlation

528
 Int. J. Assess. Tools Educ., Vol. 7, No. 4, (2020) pp. 522–534

4.3. Reliability
Anastasi and Ubrina (2005) have opined in context to reliability that “Reliability refers to the
consistency of scores obtained by the same persons when they are re-examined with the same
test on different occasions, or with different sets of equivalent items, or under other variable
examining conditions.”
The researcher first administered the Examination Anxiety Scale (EAS) to secondary school
students. After one month, the researcher administered the Examination Anxiety Scale to the
same students.
4.3.1. Correlation by test-retest
It is clear from Table 6 that the correlation between test scores and retest scores is 0.801. It can
be said that the reliability of the Scale is high. Hence, the Examination Anxiety Scale is reliable.
Table 6. Correlation co-efficient by the test-retest method
Test Retest
Test Pearson correlation 1 0.801
N 2030 2030
Retest Pearson correlation 0.801 1
N 2030 2030
Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

4.3.2. Cronbach’s alpha and split – half coefficient

From Table 7, the reliability of the Examination Anxiety Scale (EAS) by split-half method is
0.767, and the reliability of the scale by Cronbach’s Alfa method is 0.764. Hence, we can say
the reliability of the examination anxiety is high.
Table 7. Correlation coefficient by Cronbach’s Alpha and Split-Half method
Method Reliability value
Split half 0.767
Cronbach’s Alfa 0.764

4.4. Details of the Final Draft

Table 8 shows that 19 items are rejected, and 21 items are retained for the final draft of
examination anxiety scale. Table 9 shows that 15 items out of 21 items were positive, and 06
items were negative. According to Table 9, the total number of positive item is 15 and total
number of negative item is 6.
Table 8. Distribution of selected or rejected items for the final draft of the examination anxiety scale
S. No Item number f Remarks

1 4,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,16,17,18,19,20,24,25,26,29,32,36,37 21 Selected

2 1,2,3,5,7,15,21,22,23,27,28,30,31,33,34,35,38,39,40 19 Rejected

529
 Abbasi & Ghosh

Table 9. Distribution of positive and negative items for the final draft
Statement Item number Total
Positive 4,6,8,9,10,11,13,16,17,18, 20, 15
26,32,36,37
Negative 12,14,19,24,25,29 6
Total 21

Table 10 shows that 6 items were selected for bodily symptoms subscale, 5 items were selected
for the cognitive subscale; 5 items were selected for Emotional reaction subscale. 5 items were
chosen for the Behavioural reaction subscale.
Table 10. Distribution of three subscales of examination anxiety scale
Sl no Subscale Item no Total items
1 Bodily Symptoms (EAS/Bo) 4,6,11,6,18,32 6
2 Cognitive (Worry Subscale EAS/W) 12,13,14,24,37 5
3 Emotional reaction (EAS/E) 8,9,19,29,36 5
4 Behavioural reaction (EAS/Be) 10,20,25,26,31 5
Total 21

4.4. Standardization of Examination Anxiety Scale

For the calculation of norms, Z scores were calculated for each raw-score.
Table 11. Z score for each raw score
Serial Raw Z score Serial Raw Z score Serial Raw Z score
no score no score no score
1. 33 -2.447 2. 34 -2.364 3. 35 -2.197
4. 36 -2.197 5. 37 -2.113 6. 38 -2.030
7. 39 -1.946 8. 41 -1.779 9. 42 -1.696
10. 43 -1.612 11. 44 -1.529 12. 45 -1.446
13. 46 -1.362 14. 47 -1.279 15. 48 -1.195
16. 49 -1.112 17. 50 -1.028 18. 51 -0.945
19. 52 -0.861 20. 53 -0.778 21. 54 -0.695
22. 55 -0.611 23. 56 -0.528 24. 57 -0.444
25. 58 -0.361 26. 59 -0.277 27. 60 -0.194
28. 61 -0.110 29. 62 -0.027 30. 63 0.056
31. 64 0.139 32. 65 0.222 33. 66 0.306
34. 67 0.389 35. 68 0.473 36. 69 0.556
37. 70 0.640 38. 71 0.723 39. 72 0.807
40. 73 0.890 41. 74 0.974 42. 75 1.057
43. 76 1.140 44. 77 1.224 45. 78 1.307
46. 79 1.391 47. 80 1.474 48. 81 1.558
49. 82 1.641 50. 83 1.725 51. 84 1.808
52. 85 1.891 53. 86 1.975 54. 87 2.058
55. 88 2.142 56. 89 2.225 57. 94 2.643

Table 11 shows the Z-score of each raw score of adolescent students. After calculating the Z-
scores for all the raw scores, the range of Z-scores were divided into three levels, according to
their corresponding raw scores, as shown in Table 12. According to Table 12, students having
score >74 had high examination anxiety, students having score between 51 to 74, had avarage
examination anxiety and students with score<51 had low examination anxiety. The finding of

530
 Int. J. Assess. Tools Educ., Vol. 7, No. 4, (2020) pp. 522–534

Table 13 present that 16% of students belong the high examination anxiety category, 66% of
students in the avarage examination anxiety category and 18% of students remains in the high
examination anxiety category.
Table 12. Norms for interpretation of Z score
Sl no. Range of raw score Range of Z score Level of examination anxiety.
1 Below 51 Below -1 Low examination anxiety
2 51 to 74 -1 to +1 Average examination anxiety
3 Above 74 Above 1 High examination Anxiety

Table 13. Distribution of the sample in different levels of Examination Anxiety

Sl no Levels of anxiety No of students Percentage.
1. high 325 16
2. average 1340 66
3. low 365 18

4. DISCUSSION and CONCLUSION

It is worthy to note that examination anxiety based research studies are often found in the case
of children, but examination oriented research studies for an adolescent are rarely found
especially in the context of West Bengal. This research successfully strives to measure the
examination anxiety of the adolescents of the age group of 13-15 years and subsequently
identify the students suffering from high examination anxiety. As the constructed Examination
Anxiety Scale (EAS) having 21 items, possess high completion rate nearly 100 percent so it
may be inferred that the scale may be administered easily with minimum supervision.
Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) have been conducted
for determining construct validity. CFA has been applied to the different sample group,
consisting of 402 number of adolescent students of the age group 13-15 years. Exploratory
factor analysis revealed 4 factors, which was named as, Bodily Symptoms, Cognitive
Dimension, Behavioural Reaction, and Emotional Reaction. EFA also yields 21 items. The final
version of EAS, which was consisted of 21 items containing 15 positive items and 6 negative
items. All the items have factor loading greater than .40. The final version of EAS was found
to explain 44.16% of the total variance.
The final scale was applied, and confirmatory factor analysis has been executed on a sample of
402 adolescent students. All the fit indices such as, 𝜒 2 /𝐷𝑓, RMSEA, GFI, AGFI, CFI all were
above acceptable values. CFA result showed that EAS has a good fit model, and it also
confirmed the result of EFA. In this study, examination anxiety score of adolescent students is
highly correlated with test anxiety inventory score by C.D Spielberger. The strong positive
correlation between the constructed scale and Test Anxiety Inventory by C.D Spielberger which
is considered as a standard established instrument is indicative of a high concurrent validity.
The constructed Examination Anxiety Scale (EAS) efficiently assesses the examination anxiety
of adolescent students because it has high internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s alpha
correlation coefficient 0.764), high test-retest reliability (0.801) and excellent split-half
reliability (0.767)
In this study, the norms show that 16% of students belong to the high examination anxiety
group, 66% of students in the average examination anxiety group, and 18 % in the low
examination anxiety group. This result stands nearly similar to the findings of Mary et al.
(2014). In their study, they found that 8% of students remain in the high examination anxiety

531
 Abbasi & Ghosh

category, 74 % of students remain in the average examination anxiety category, and 18 % of

students in the low examination anxiety category.
This research enables to identify the problems based on high examination anxiety, and at the
same time, it unleashes the purview for the teachers to resolve the problems through guidance
and counselling. This study also corroborates that high examination anxiety oriented issues can
be resolved by creating an ambient and congenial environment among the family members. It
provides a relevant indication towards the faulty evaluation system, which causes examination
anxiety among adolescents.
Acknowledgements
Authors acknowledge the experts of language and subject, students, teachers, school authority
and parents/ guardians of the participants for their support and contribution in this study.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests and Ethics
The authors declare no conflict of interest. This research study complies with research
publishing ethics. The scientific and legal responsibility for manuscripts published in IJATE
belongs to the author(s).
ORCID
Nargis Abbasi https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6267-7859
Shilpi Ghosh https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9076-9873
5. REFERENCES
Abbasi, N., & Ghosh, S. (2020). Effect of yoga on examination anxiety: A systematic review.
International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, 24(8), 9113-9124.
Akkus, A. (2019). Developing a scale to measure student’s attitude towards science.
International Journal of Assessment Tools in Education, 6(4), 706-720.
Anastasi, A., & Ubrina, S. (2005). Psychological testing. New Delhi, India: Prentice Hall of
India Private Limited.
Browne, B. M., & Cudeck, R. (1993). Alternative ways of assessing model fit. In: Bollen, K.
A. and Long, J. S. (Eds). Testing structural equation models, Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Cassady, J. C., & Johnson, R. E. (2001). Cognitive test anxiety and academic performance.
Contemporary Educational Psychology, 27, 270-295.
Covington, M. V. (1985). Test anxiety: Causes and effects over time. In H. M. van der Ploeg,
R. Schwarzer, & C. D. Spielberger (Eds.), Advances in Test Anxiety Research, 4, 55-66.
Lisse, The Netherlands: Swets & Zeitlinger
Embse, N. V., Kilgus, S., Segool, N., & Putwain, D. (2013). Test anxiety interventions of
children and adolescents: A systematic review of treatment studies from 2000-2010.
Psychology in the Schools, 50, 57-71. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.21660
Freeman, F. S. (1960). Theory and practice of psychological testing. New Delhi: Oxford & IBH
Publishing Co. Pvt Ltd.
Hembree, R. (1988). Correlates, causes, effects, and treatment of test anxiety. Review of
Educational Research, 58(1), 47–77. https://doi.org/10.2307/1170348
Hodapp, V., & Benson, J. (1997). The multidimensionality of test anxiety: A test of different
models. Anxiety, Stress and Coping, 10(3), 219-244. https://doi.org/10.1080/106158097
08249302
Leech, L.N., Barrett, C.K & Morgan, A.G. (2005). SPSS for intermediate statistics. London:
Lawrance Erbaum Associates Publisher.
Liebert, R. M., & Morris, L. W. (1967). Cognitive and emotional components of test anxiety:
A distinction and some initial data. Psychological Reports, 20(3, PT. 1), 975-
978. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1967.20.3.975

532
 Int. J. Assess. Tools Educ., Vol. 7, No. 4, (2020) pp. 522–534

Lowe, P. A., Lee, S. W., Witteborg, K. M., Prichard, K. W., Luhr, M. E., & Cullinan, C. M.
(2008). The Test Anxiety Inventory for Children and Adolescents (TAICA): Examination
of the properties of a new multidimensional measure of test anxiety among elementary
and secondary school students. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 26(3), 215-
230. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282907303760
MacCallum, R.C., Browne, M. W., & Sugawara, H. M. (1996). Power analysis and
determination of sample size for covariance structure modelling. Psychological Methods,
1, 130-149
Mandler, G., & Sarason, S. B. (1952). A study of anxiety and learning. Journal of Abnormal
and Social Psychology, 47, 166-173
Mary, R. A., Marslin, G., Franklin, G., & Sheeba, C. J. (2014). Test anxiety levels of board
exam going students in Tamil Nadu. Hindwai Publishing Corporation Biomed Research
International, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/578323
Mcdonald, S. A. (2010). The prevalence and effect of test anxiety in school children. An
International Journal of experimental educational psychology, 21(1), 89-101.
Sarason, I. G. (1958). Interrelationship among individual difference variables, behavior in
psychotherapy, and verbal condition. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 56,
339-344.
Sarason, I. G. (1959). Intellectual and personality correlates test anxiety. The Journal of
Abnormal and Social Psychology, 59(2), 272-275. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0042200
Sarason, S. B., Davidson, K. S., Lighthall, F. F., Waite, R. R., & Ruebush, B. K. (1960). Anxiety
in elementary school children: A report of research. John Wiley & Sons Inc.
https://doi.org/10.1037/14349-000
Sarason, I. G. (1984). Stress, anxiety and cognitive interference reactions to test. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 66(4), 929-938.
Shukla, J. U. (2013). A study of examination Anxiety among secondary school students in the
context of some variable. (Unpublished doctoral dessertation). Gujrat University,
Ahmedabad, India.
Spielberger, C. D. (2010). Test Anxiety Inventory. New Jersey, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Suinn, R. M. (1969). The STABS, a measure of test anxiety for behavior therapy: Normative
data. Behavior Research and Therapy, 7, 335-339.
Wine, J. (1971). Test anxiety and direction of attention. Psychological Bulletin, 76(2), 92-104.
https://doi.org/10.1037/h0031332
Zeidner, M. (1992). How to high school and college students cope with test situations? British
Journal of Educational Psychology, 66, 115-128.
Zeidner, M. (1998). Test Anxiety: The State of the art. New York: Plenum Press.

533
 Abbasi & Ghosh

6. APPENDIX
Table A1 displays the 21 items of standardized English verison of examination anxiety scale
for adolescent students.
Table A1. Examination Anxiety Scale for adolescent students (Standardized English version)
Strongly Strongly
Statements Agree Undecided Disagree Total
Agree Disagree
1. When I sit for an important examination, I
feel thrilled.
2. During examination I frequently feel the
urgency to go to toilet.
3. While taking an examination I feel uneasy
and upset.
4. Even after preparing well for the
examination I feel very nervous.
5. I often look at the other people during
exams.
6. My hands often sweat and feel cold before
and during examination.
7. During examination I think that I will
surely pass the examination and get
promoted.
8. Worry about the result of the examination
interferes with my performance during
examination.
9. After examination I think most of my
answers are right.
10. Sometime I tremble before or during
examination
11. During an important examination I suffer
from headache.
12. I feel relaxed while taking an
examination.
13. During examination I often check the
time.
14. After an examination I say to myself, it
is over and I did my best.
15. I never play with my pencil or pen
during an examination.
16. My thought wander during examination.
17. I feel very confident while I taking an
examination.
18. I think about current events during an
examination.
19. My mouth becomes dry before or during
an important examination.
20. I feel very jittery when talking an
important examination.
21. Before or during examination I think
other students are brighter than me.

534