Test Anxiety: Cognitive Interference or Inadequate Preparation

This paper reviews the differences between two interpretations accounting for the poor test performance of highly anxious students 1 the anxiety interferes with retrieval of prior learning, or 2 that, due to study skills deficits, the initial acquisition by an anxious student is less thorough than that of a less anxious student. Research results dealing with both hypothesis are reviewed. It was concluded that these were complementary rather than mutually exclusive formulations. A hypothesis was advanced predicting that test anxiety debilitates performance by reducing the cognitive capacity available for task solution, and that study skills facilitate learning by reducing the cognitive capacity demanded by different tasks. sdw