THE EFFECTS OF EXAM ON HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS‟ ANXIETY

“Do written examinations have an effect on the anxiety level of high school students?” In the beginning, this paper explains anxiety, a physical state that is experienced by every human being, from different views. Then, it considers the psychoanalytic meaning of anxiety, symptoms of anxiety and the other researches about anxiety. Next, it displays the study that is made to compare the level of pre and post exam anxiety levels to answer the research question of “Do written examinations have an effect on the anxiety of high school students?‟. The „State Anxiety Disorder Inventory‟ by Spielberger was made 15 minutes before and after the exam. The post-exam mean SAI scores were higher than the pre-exam mean SAI scores (55.42±4.89 and 49.62±9.02 respectively). The difference between the scores were statistically significant (t=-3.1, p=0.005). It was also found that the increase in the level of the anxiety is in females higher than it is in males , and this difference was significant (9.55±7.74 for females and 3.00±8.26 for males) ; (z=-1.95, p=0.05) , the economic position( 7.21±9.08 for good and 3.00±7.04 for very good) ; ( z=-1.42 , p=0.15) , and the sibling state does not affect the anxiety ( 2.75± 9.19 for only child , 7.69±7.85 for „having a sibling „ ); (z= ,1.34 , p=0.18) The conclusion of the essay displays that the written examinations do have an increasing effect on the level of anxiety of the students, proving our hypothesis, which was „The high school student‟s anxiety level is increased by the written examinations‟ .In addition, the socio-demographic investigation showed that the increase in the level of the anxiety is higher for females than it is for males and neither the economical position, nor the sibling state effects the anxiety level