The effectiveness of problem solving skills training on exam anxiety, self-efficacy and source of control of male secondary school students

The aim of the present study was to determine the effectiveness of teaching problem-solving skills on exam anxiety, self-efficacy, and locus of control of male second-year high school students. The research method was semi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test design and a control group. The statistical population was the male students in the second year of middle school in Tabriz city in the academic year 2021-2022, from which 60 students were selected by multi-stage random sampling and randomly divided into 2 experimental groups (30 people) and a control group (30 people). were placed The test anxiety scale (TAS, Sarason, 1998), academic self-efficacy questionnaire (ASQ, McIlroy and Bunting, 2002), and locus of control questionnaire (SCQ, Rutter, 1996) were used to collect data. Data analysis was done using analysis of the covariance test. The results of the research showed that by controlling the pre-test effect, there is a significant difference between the post-test mean of test anxiety, self-efficacy, and source of control in the two test and control groups (P<0.01). In fact, teaching problem-solving skills increases academic self-efficacy and the source of internal control. Also, teaching problem-solving skills reduces exam anxiety and the source of external control in students.