Fear Reactions and Achievement Behavior of Students Approaching an Examination

This chapter deals with the theoretical and empirical analysis of two interdependent aspects of students’ behavior prior to an examination: examination fear and achievement behavior. After a brief survey of some of the variables considered important for the description and explanation of examination fear and achievement behavior, an initial model will be presented for the prediction of students’ levels of fear at different points in time before the examination. An empirical test of the model will then be conducted. The results of this test have interesting implications for our present understanding of the relationships between variables considered relevant to achievement behavior and those intimately associated with the phenomenon of fear. In the final section the findings and interpretations will be compared to those of Epstein and Fenz (1965), and some conclusions will be drawn with regard to the prevention and therapy of unusually high levels of examination fear.