The Relationship between Test Anxiety and Learned Helplessness

The major objective of the study was to examine the relationship between test anxiety and learned helplessness. The participants were students preparing for the Turkish High Schools Placement Test (HSPT) on one hand, and the University Entrance Examination (UEE) on the other. With a sample of 708 students, the study veered into the analysis of 319 students from the HSPS preparation program and 318 students in the UEE preparation program with the consideration that all students were the natives of the Aksaray province in Turkey.

The research, which was both quantitative and qualitative, employed the use of the Test Anxiety Scale and the Learned Helplessness Scale as tools for data collection. The theoretical part of the research gave an explanation into the effects of anxiety, bearing in mind that the data correlation was based on experimental analysis. For the research on the learned helplessness, the individual attributes were the presumed independent variables, while the external environment was presumed to be the dependent variable. On the other hand, the research was for the test anxiety scale, veered into the psychometric properties as the variants of research against an individual choice of the open end questioner system. For a conclusive finding, the datum was analyzed using statistical packages for social sciences, while the Analysis of Variance was used to estimate the linearity of the datum with the expectations, which gave the standard deviation for the moments of correlation (Seligma, 2007).

The study used the conventional experimental research method with a random sample of participants from the medium socioeconomic levels. This involved sampling of 708 students with 319 from the sample preparing for the HSPT, while 389 were preparing for the UEE. The experiment lasted for 30-40 minutes during class time, while the resultant datum was tabled according to the gender affiliations.

The results confirmed that the level of student learned helplessness in the HSPT fraternity were higher than the UEE levels. On the other hand, the age differences depicted a considerable influence in the level of student helplessness. For instance, the students aged 12-14 years could not cope with the impact of anxiety, as compared to the 17-18 year old compatriots, who showed resistivity to the impact of negative events. Consequently, the gender affiliations played an important role in depiction of student helplessness, since the level of anxiety among the female students was higher than that evident in the male fraternity (Seligma, 2007).

Critique

The critique of this analysis lies in the lack of the gender variations consideration in the construction of proof for the hypothesis that there exists low performance for learners with pre-test anxiety. This is derived from the fact that the experimentation process focused on presentation of the combined gender models, which jeopardized the standard measures of the relationship between anxiety and performance. For instance, the analysis ignored the fundamental influence of attributes like study skills and learning outcomes in the construction of the evidence for the hypothesis that “the level of pre-test anxiety is inversely proportional to the level of performance” (Seligma, 2007).

The study of the author did not employ the appropriate ethical safeguards, since it is entirely an elucidation of male chauvinism against the constraints of reality. In this context, the female fraternity is shown as weaker. On the other hand, the results are strong since they tally with the nature of the hypothesis. The only implication that was omitted was the influence of external evaluative pressure, which seeks to evaluate the preparedness of the learners for the analysis. This implies that for simplicity, there was the need for combination of the gender models.

Consequently, the author displayed the capability of correct interpretation of the findings since there was proximity between the findings and expected reality. For instance, it is highly expected that the level of anxiety among the adolescents is higher than that of the students at higher levels of learning. Moreover, it is most expected that the level of pretest anxiety among the female student fraternity is higher than the pretest anxiety among the male student fraternity. This is scientific as the hormonal differences among the gender affiliations contribute to this form of disparity.  This is in linearity with the findings of the analysis, in which the author shows that the level of performance among the psychology student fraternity is in inverse proportionality with the level of anxiety. The converse is also true that the lower the level of pretest anxiety the higher the level of performance which is also articulated in this analysis. On the other hand, interpretation of the gender levels of anxiety versus performance is correctly articulated with the most expected results. The female students are depicted to harbor high levels of pretest anxiety due to the hormonal influence. This implies that the research was performed in line with the scientific study.

The major problem evident in the analysis is the lack of preparedness for the analysis, which could have elucidated a different interpretation of the results. For instance, the 40 minute period could not elucidate a judgmental aspect on the source of the pretest anxiety. This could have led to an assumption that the level of anxiety as being more of born than in contention with the resultant datum. This implies that the students had a time period stipulated without the consideration of the constraints of personal capabilities to comprehension of the test or past acquaintances. This could have attracted high levels of anxiety among the slow learner fraternity, which could have led to a prejudicial judgment that the level of anxiety as being in the persona. This could also explain the presence of evaluative pressure, which results from lack of preparedness.

In my opinion, the study is reliable since the results are in line with the reality based on scientific evidence. For instance, it is evident that the female fraternity is more vulnerable to pretest anxiety, compared to the male fraternity. On the other hand, the resultant datum is linear with the expected results since it involves calculation of the covariance based on standard deviations. For instance, the SPSS programs relayed by a software machine elucidates accuracy reliability and, hence validity of the results, which leads to a judgmental evidence. The datum is also measurable as it gives room for the null or void results, which are represented by a group of students in the sample, whose results did not culminate in any reasonable datum. This group represents the platform for explanation of the probability of participation against constraints of null respondents.

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