A study of test anxiety across diverse demographic profiles of higher secondary students

In today’s education system, the pursuit of academic excellence has become more career-oriented than knowledge-centered, i.e., which has shifted the focus from fostering intellectual curiosity to achieving high marks, creating a system where education is often perceived as mechanical rather than a process of meaningful learning. This mark-oriented approach places immense pressure on students, compelling them to prioritize scores over genuine understanding and passion for learning. Parents, driven by aspirations for their children’s success, often impose high expectations, which, in turn, intensifies the pressure on students. This is particularly evident during the Higher Secondary examination, a crucial academic milestone that shapes future opportunities in higher education and employment. The heightened significance of these examinations generates excessive stress, leading to psychological challenges such as anxiety, tension, nervousness, and even depression among students. To conduct the present study, stratified random sampling technique was used to select the sample from various Higher Secondary schools, and the data was collected from a sample of 986 Higher Secondary students in Theni district, Tamil Nadu, India. The present study seeks to investigate these issues through a comparative analysis across various demographic variables. By examining factors such as gender, socio-economic status, and academic streams, the study aims to uncover underlying patterns and provide insights into the challenges faced by Higher Secondary students.
A Questionnaire on “ Test Anxiety Scale “(TAS)-2023 constructed and validated, by the investigator with the guidance of the research supervisor - Dr.G. Arumugham, was administered to the sample and the collected data were analysed by adopting various statistical techniques. The study indicated that that exist significant difference on Test Anxiety among Higher Secondary students with respect to gender, locality of the school, type of school management, father’s and mother’s educational and occupational background, and highlighted that female students are experiencing more anxiety than the male students, rural students than urban students, the government school students, students whose father’s are only with the school level education, mothers with college level education, father’s being employed in private concern and mothers with other jobs experienced higher test anxiety than their counterparts.