Prevalence of test Anxiety and Efficacy of Coping Therapy on test Anxiety Decreasing and Improving Academic Achievement of high School Female Students

The purpose of this study was to study the efficacy of coping therapy on decreasing the level of test anxiety and improving academic achievement of female high school students of Sagez. Iran to achieve this aim, 160 students, grade 3, were randomly selected from Sagez high schools. First, the Spielberger test anxiety scale was administered to the subjects. The results of the questionnaires relating to test anxiety and the interview showed that 41 subjects had highly test anxiety. Then, 40 students were assigned to two experimental and control groups. The experimental group (20 students) then participated in coping therapy for ten 90-minute sessions. Finally, the Speliberger test anxiety scale was administrated the two groups again. The results of this study demonstrated that the prevalence of test anxiety among high school female students of Sagez was 25/62. The results indicated significant differences between the pretest and posttest scares. In other words, there were significant differences among the control vs experimental group as for the decrease in the level of anxiety. Further analysis through the t-test results indicated significant differences between experimental and control groups as for the academic achievement.