Test Anxiety: The Fear Factor in Measuring College Students' Academic PerformanceAccording to Turner, Biedel, Hughes, and Turner (1993), research strongly suggests that children with test anxiety have a number of detrimental academic effects deficiencies, although it is unclear whether test anxiety translates into academic deficiencies or vice versa. Children with test anxiety have been found to have poor self-perception. A critical dimension is the estimate of cognitive abilities because this factor is clearly related to the ability to achieve academic results. As hypothesized, based on the cognitive competence subscale, anxious children perceived themselves as less competent on the test. Therefore, the findings here are consistent with those of other studies and further support the contention that test anxiety can pose a significant detriment to young children's academic performance. A final purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between test anxiety and other non-test-related fears. The results indicate that test-anxious children had more non-test-related fears than their non-test-anxious peers. Therefore, it is possible that many test-anxious children suffer from a more pervasive pattern of fear and anxiety, as suggested by Sarason et al. (1960) and Beidel and Turner (1988). However, even when the difference in fear level was statistically controlled, there were still significant relationships between test anxiety, academic achievement, and self-concept. This suggests that differences in self-concept and academic performance are not solely related to general fear, but are also influenced by test anxiety. Research questions that remain to be addressed include why the prevalence of test anxiety for all children appears to have… half of the paper… gh review, researchers found no test measures used in the state of Maryland that are implemented to examine levels of test anxiety in the incoming college and university student population. This research will enable college students to gain a greater understanding of the degree of test anxiety they are experiencing, the factors that may be related to test anxiety, and, through practical application, learn to use productive coping strategies to achieve academic success. Without adequate testing techniques, students fall well below their expected rate of achievement and risk failing college and dropping out of higher education. The researchers hypothesize that there will be a statistically significant difference between male and female students in measures of test anxiety. The researchers will explore the relationships between age, classification and test anxiety.