Achievement Anxiety Test (AAT)

Reference

Alpert, R., & Haber, R. N. (1960). Anxiety in academic achievement situations. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 61(2), 207–215. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0045464

Achievement Anxiety Test (AAT)

Facilitating Anxiety Scale

• 1. I work most effectively under pressure, as when the task is very important. (2)
  Always—Never.
• 2. While I may (or may not) be nervous before taking an exam, once I start, I seem to forget to be nervous. (9)
  I always forget—I am always nervous during an exam.
• 3. Nervousness while taking a test helps me do better. (11)
  It never helps—It often helps.
• 4. When I start a test, nothing is able to distract me. (12)
  This is always true of me—This is not true of me.
• 5. In courses in which the total grade is based mainly on one exam, I seem to do better than other people. (14)
  Never—Almost always.
• 6. I look forward to exams. (16)
  Never—Always.
• 7. Although “cramming” under pre-examination tension is not effective for most people, I find that if the need arises, I can learn material immediately before an exam, even under considerable pressure, and successfully retain it to use on the exam. (19)
  I am always able to use the “crammed” material successfully—I am never able to use the “crammed” material successfully.
• 8. I enjoy taking a difficult exam more than an easy one. (21)
  Always—Never.
• 9. The more important the exam or test, the better I seem to do. (24)
  This is true of me—This is not true of me.

Debilitating Anxiety Scale

• 1. Nervousness while taking an exam or test hinders me from doing well. (1)
  Always—Never.
• 2. In a course where I have been doing poorly, my fear of a bad grade cuts down my efficiency. (3)
  Never—Always.
• 3. When I am poorly prepared for an exam or test, I get upset, and do less well than even my restricted knowledge should allow. (5)
  This never happens to me—This practically always happens to me.
• 4. The more important the examination, the less well I seem to do. (6)
  Always—Never.
• 5. During exams or tests, I block on questions to which I know the answers, even though I might remember them as soon as the exam is over. (10)
  This always happens to me—I never block on questions to which I know the answers.
• 6. I find that my mind goes blank at the beginning of an exam, and it takes me a few minutes before I can function. (15)
  I almost always blank out at first—I never blank out at first.
• 7. I am so tired from worrying about an exam, that I find I almost don’t care how well I do by the time I start the test. (17)
  I never feel this way—I almost always feel this way.
• 8. Time pressure on an exam causes me to do worse than the rest of the group under similar conditions. (18)
  Time pressure always seems to make me do worse on an exam than others—Time pressure never seems
  to make me do worse on an exam than others.
• 9. I find myself reading exam questions without understanding them, and I must go back over them so that they will make sense. (23)
  Never—Almost always.
• 10. When I don’t do well on a difficult item at the beginning of an exam, it tends to upset me so that I block on even easy questions later on. (26)
  This never happens to me—This almost always happens to me.

Note. Items answered on a five-point scale, indicating the degree to which the item applies. The numbers in the parentheses to the right are the actual item numbers on the AAT.