Learning Module: Test Anxiety – Instructional Approaches to Support Students 

Many instructors use some form of tests, quizzes or exams as assessments in their classes. Despite their various names, these assessments share common features (based on Zeidner, 1998):  

• Involves a particular time and/or place, which often functions as a constraint on performance.  

• Requires the completion of a series of tasks, which are unspecified or unknown before the assessment. 

• Evaluated based on external criteria and performance results have impacts outside the assessment.  

Many students report feeling anxiety regarding tests, more than other evaluations.  Approximately 40% of undergraduate students report that they have experienced test anxiety at some point in their degree.   

Test anxiety is a form of evaluation anxiety when students perceive the test as a threat.  Instructional choices can impact this threat perception by increasing or decreasing the potential threat associated with the testing experience. An instructor’s instructional approach can reduce the likelihood of test anxiety by creating a supportive, learning-oriented evaluation environment.  

• Understand test anxiety and how it impacts student performance 

• Develop strategies to respond to students experiencing test anxiety 

• Explore assessment choices that can reduce students’ perceptions of tests as threats 

• Consider how tests can be used to support a growth mindset 

In this module, you will find: 

• 8 videos
• 4 audio recordings
• 1 template
• Reflection questions