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C25 alive

Pupils and students with higher test anxiety get lower test scores and grades than calmer peers, at every school age studied: the link is negative and about r = −0.2 (small to moderate), not close to zero.

Status: alive
Last change: 2026-11-03
Serves: Q1 (How do humans actually learn, and what helps them learn best?)
Ages: grundskola-lag, grundskola-hog, gymnasium, vuxen-livslangt
Area: Emotion, stress and arousal
Relates to: C25 relates-to C26 (both about stress and emotion around tests)
Bounds: An association, not proof that anxiety causes lower results (weaker pupils may also become more anxious). Evidence on file: Robson, Johnstone, Putwain & Howard 2023 (Journal of School Psychology, DOI 10.1016/j.jsp.2023.02.003; full text): 76 studies, N = 53,617 children aged 5–12; maths r = −.21 (95% CI −.30 to −.13), literacy r = −.20 (−.29 to −.10), general school achievement r = −.23 (−.29 to −.16); some publication bias and heterogeneity. von der Embse, Jester, Roy & Post 2018 (Journal of Affective Disorders, DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2017.11.048; abstract only): 238 studies; significant negative relations to standardised tests, entrance exams and GPA, small to moderate, strongest in the middle grades. Kill-condition test survived 2026-11-03 (nightly attack): Caviola, Toffalini, Giofrè, Mercader Ruiz, Szűcs & Mammarella 2021 (Educational Psychology Review 34(1), 363–399, DOI 10.1007/s10648-021-09618-5; open access, full text read): meta-analysis of academic anxiety and maths performance (177 studies, 906,311 participants overall); test anxiety and maths performance r = −.23 (95% CI −.26 to −.19), high heterogeneity, children versus adults not a significant moderator. Maths only, correlational, and partly the same studies as von der Embse et al. 2018.
What would kill this: A large meta-analysis finds no reliable negative link between test anxiety and test scores or grades, or a link weaker than about r = −0.1. Promoted from K55 on 2026-10-29 in the bold expansion Jonatan approved after four empty attack nights (26–29 Oct): new sharp claims in thin areas, each naming a comparison, a rough size or direction and a population.
Tutor consequence: none yet

Attack record

1 attack: 1 survived

2026-11-03 survived

Attack: Outside Robson et al.'s primary-school sample, the test-anxiety link may be weaker than about r = −0.1, or vanish in older students and adults.
Target: kill-condition
Source: Caviola, Toffalini, Giofrè, Mercader Ruiz, Szűcs & Mammarella 2021 | Educational Psychology Review 34(1), 363–399, DOI 10.1007/s10648-021-09618-5 (open access, CC BY; full text read)
Steelmans to: The strongest version: a large meta-analysis across children and adults, separating test anxiety from maths anxiety, could show the test-anxiety link to be near zero once other anxiety forms are split off.
Why: Nightly-attacks run of 2026-11-03 Europe/Stockholm. Test anxiety and maths performance r = −.23 (95% CI −.26 to −.19), high heterogeneity; children versus adults not a significant moderator. The link is reliably negative and well beyond −0.1. Limits: maths only (not grades or literacy), correlational, and partly overlapping studies with von der Embse et al. 2018.
Rewrite: none (bounds only)

Linked sources

4 linked sources (4 supports)

Supports (4)

Source	Basis
EMO-007 · Math Performance and Academic Anxiety Forms, from Sociodemographic to Cognitive Aspects: a Meta-analysis on 906,311 Participants (2021)	Kill-condition test survived 2026-11-03: test anxiety–maths performance r = −.23 [−.26, −.19]; children vs adults not a moderator; maths only, correlational.
EMO-006 · Correlates, Causes, Effects, and Treatment of Test Anxiety (1988)	Meta-analysis of 562 studies: test anxiety goes with poorer test performance; reducing it through treatment is consistently accompanied by better test scores and GPA. Pooled r not in the abstract; abstract only.
EMO-002 · Test anxiety in primary school children: A 20-year systematic review and meta-analysis (2023)	Full text: ages 5–12, maths r = −.21, literacy r = −.20, general r = −.23.
EMO-001 · Test anxiety effects, predictors, and correlates: A 30-year meta-analytic review (2018)	Abstract: 238 studies; negative small-to-moderate links to tests, exams and GPA.

Review state: first-pass draft, pending human review.