Test Anxiety and Study Behaviour as Predictors of Secondary School Students’ Achievement in Chemistry in Abakaliki Education Zone, Ebonyi State

Abstract

The study investigated how test anxiety and study behaviour predict Senior Secondary two (SS2) students’ achievement in Chemistry in Abakaliki Education Zone of Ebonyi State, Nigeria. The correlation survey design was adopted. Three research questions and three null hypotheses tested at 0.05 alpha levels served as the study's guiding principles. The population of the study was 3,242 SS2 students in 78 public senior secondary schools in the 2022–2023 session. The sample consisted of 348 SS2 students, which were selected using a two-stage sampling procedure. The Chemistry Test Anxiety Scale (CTAS) and Study Behaviour Scale (SBS) were the two instruments used for data collection. Three experts from Nnamdi Azikiwe University's Faculty of Education in Awka validated the instruments, and the Cronbach Alpha technique was used to establish the reliability coefficients, which came out to be 0.72 for CTAS and 0.86 for SBS. The students’ promotion results in Chemistry in SS1 in the 2021–2022 session represent their achievement scores in Chemistry. Both linear and multiple regression analysis were used to examine the data that had been gathered. The study's findings showed that chemistry test anxiety and study behaviour individually or jointly do not predict secondary school students’ academic achievement in Chemistry. The results suggested, among other things, that school guidance counsellors should focus on helping students with their anxiety related to chemistry tests and their study habits in order to improve their impact on their academic achievement.