TAMPA, Fla. (April 24, 2001) -- As students throughout the state prepare to take their tests, they undoubtedly will feel some added anxiety. Some of that anxiety is good, University of South Florida experts say, but too much can have a detrimental effect on test performance.

"There's a part of them that believes that anxiety makes them study better," said William D. Anton, director of USF's Counseling Center, which offers several workshops and other programs throughout the year to help students deal with text anxiety. "But most of the research shows reducing anxiety actually improves performance."

Some students are even afraid of reducing anxiety, wrongly thinking that it gives them an edge. "If you can reduce anxiety, you can enhance performance," Anton said.

USF researchers also examine the phenomenon of "study anxiety" and have created an inventory to measure how well people will actually study. Study anxiety interferes with concentration and leads to procrastination.

Students are not the only ones affected. Research shows that text anxiety is also a big predictor of job performance later in life. The College Adjustment Scale, which Anton developed, is one of the best predictors of academic persistence and performance and can predict job retention, according to Anton.

"It's important for them to know that some anxiety is normal and can even be helpful," said Charles Spielberger, director of the USF Center for Research in Behavioral Medicine and Health.

"There are procedures that students can use to overcome their anxiousness, and counseling has proved to be very helpful. However, students who have test anxiety also generally have poor study habits and poor test taking skills," said Spielberger, an expert on test anxiety and the author of the 1995 book, "Test Anxiety: Theory Assessment and Treatment."

Spielberger developed the Test Anxiety Questionnaire, which measures personality traits that correlate with test performance. Reactions include worry and emotionality, which can divert thinking, cause palms to sweat and cause students to "block" -- all of which can interfere with getting the job done.

Additionally, Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory has become the international standard for measuring test anxiety, and has been translated and adapted in more than 60 languages and dialects. When taking a test, it helps to respond to those questions for which you know the answers instead of wasting time and becoming frustrated over questions for which no answer is immediately available, he said.

"Wasting an inordinate amount of time on a question you don't understand probably doesn't increase the chances you'll get it right, but it certainly increases your anxiety level about the rest of the test," said Spielberger.

Spielberger is Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology, and past president of the American Psychological Association and the APA Division of Clinical Psychology. A nationally recognized expert on stress and emotions, he has written numerous books and articles on anxiety, anger and stress. His recently published "Job Stress Survey" evaluates sources of stress in the workplace.

---University of South Florida

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