Predicting Exam Anxiety according to Intrinsic and Extrinsic Religious Orientations of Female Students in Public Guidance School in Tehran

Exam anxiety as a common and important phenomenon in educational centers, is a kind of mental self-preoccupation that is characterized by underestimating oneself, doubting ones capabilities and results in lack of concentration and physical reaction as well as unpleasant reactions; the implication of which is the reduction in the ability to cope with the exam situation and finally academic inefficiency. The aim of this study was to predict exam anxiety on the basis of intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientation of female students in public schools in Tehran. The capacity of the sample according to Cochran was 300 subjects which were chosen by using the stratified random sampling method. In order to collect data two instruments: a) Allport's religious orientation questionnaire with 21 multiple choice questions for both internal and external religious orientation, and b) the Sarasin Test Anxiety Questionnaire with 25 items in two dimensions -anxiety and affectivity - were used in this non-experimental study that was carried out in a descriptive and correlational style. For data analysis, descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (regression analysis) were used. The results of the study showed that:1- Most students, in terms of exam anxiety, are in the middle-and upper-middle levels. There is a significant difference between the components of anxiety and affectivity. A comparison of the average scores has indicated that the amount of students’ anxiety is more than their affectivity. 2- From the scores of religiosity one could predict student's exam anxiety. The power to predict intrinsic religious orientation is more than extrinsic religious orientation. Thus, we can conclude that students with intrinsic religious orientation experience less anxiety.