INTERACTION EFFECTS OF ITEM-DIFFICULTY SEQUENCE AND ACHIEVEMENT-ANXIETY REACTION ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

HYPOTHESIZED THAT INDIVIDUAL REACTION TO TEST TAKING MEDIATES THE EFFECT OF ITEM-DIFFICULTY SEQUENCE ON PERFORMANCE. 120 COLLEGE FRESHMEN WERE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED A FINAL EXAMINATION WITH ITEMS SEQUENCED EITHER HARD (H) TO EASY (E), E-H, OR AT RANDOM (R), AND WERE THEN CLASSIFIED WITHIN EACH SEQUENCE BY ACHIEVEMENT-ANXIETY TYPE. AS PREDICTED, A 3 (ITEM-SEQUENCE) * 4 (REACTION-TYPE) ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE (N = 120) YEILDED SIGNIFICANT F RATIOS (P < .01) ONLY FOR REACTION TYPE AND INTERACTION; HOWEVER, SEVERAL SPECIFIC PERFORMANCES WERE SIGNIFICANT IN THE NONPREDICTED DIRECTION. RESULTS ARE EXPLAINED USING THE INVERTED-U HYPOTHESIS AND THE ASSUMPTION THAT ITEM SEQUENCES ARE PROGRESSIVELY MORE AROUSING IN THE ORDER OF R, E-H, H-E. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1968 American Psychological Association.