Release date: July 26, 2004
Contact: Deb Hammacher, Associate Director, University Media Relations,
at 404-727-0644 or dhammac@emory.edu

Professors' Casual Comments Can Cause Pre-Test Anxiety Among Students

To all teachers who want their students to approach exams with confidence: skip pleasantries such as "good luck" while passing out exams. A study by psychologist Kenneth Carter of Oxford College of Emory University, has found that what professors say--or don't say--just before a test can have an effect on their students' anxiety levels.

Carter's research, which involved 100 students at Oxford, a two-year undergraduate division of the university, examined the relationship between teachers' comments as they distributed exams and the subjective anxiety as reported by the students. Telling the class about past failures on the exam or how challenging it was, as well as reminders of time limits and the significance of the test made students feel the most anxious.

Ideally, students said they would like to hear just the instructions. And if a professor has to say something, words of reassurance, such as a simple "I know you'll do well," were preferred.

"What I found most interesting is that students don't want professors to say anything. 'Just shut up and give us the test' seemed to be the prevailing sentiment," says Carter, who will present his findings at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in July.

Carter was inspired to do the study after overhearing a student complain about a professor who would always say "If you didn't study, you'll fail" before a test.

"When you're about to take a test, you've got your game face on and you're ready to go. A comment like that can zap your confidence. I wanted to take it step further and look at what we as professors can do to help our students during exam time," Carter says.

To gather data, Carter distributed questionnaires this past academic year to students that assessed initial subjective distress levels before an exam, documented any faculty comments as the exam was distributed, and measured students' anxiety levels after these comments.

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