Impact of test-taking skills in mathematics on adolescents academic performance in Lagos, Nigeria.

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Date
2019-06
Authors
Akanni, O.O.
Emeri, P.N.
Oketade, O.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
International Journal of Development Strategies Research in Humanities ,Management and Social Science(IJDSRHMSS). Coventry University, United Kingdom
Abstract
One of the ways to prepare students for both internal and external examinations is constant exposure to test-taking skills. The rationale behind test-taking is to build students' courage priori to examination period especially in mathematics where many students perform below expectations. Of course, several factors could be responsible for students' poor performances but one of effective approach to eliminate this poor performance is to prepare students' mind towards test-taking. Hence, the study was carried out to examine the impact of test-taking skills in Mathematics on adolescents' academic performance in Lagos Mainland Local Government Area of Lagos State. The study was a descriptive research survey. Three (3) null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance in the study. The population for the study were all senior secondary students in Lagos Mainland Local Government Area of Lagos-State. A self-developed questionnaire titled Use of Test-Taking Strategy, Test Anxiety Attitude and Motivation towards Mathematics Learning Questionnaire (UTTSTAAMML) and a mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) were used as instruments for data collection. The instruments had reliability coefficients of 0.58 and 0.64 respectively when tested during the pilot study. The study revealed that the use of test-taking skills in mathematics significantly impact on adolescents' level of test anxiety, motivation, attitude and academic performance. It was therefore concluded among others that test-taking skills remain a viable tool in adjusting students' perception towards mathematics. This study among others therefore recommends that the school authorities should organize capacity building trainings and programmes which should be effective on student's test taking skills and orientating their mathematics teacher on the expected skills as this will improve student's skills in mathematics tests.
Description
Scholarly Article
Keywords
Test-taking skill , Motivation , Attitude , Academic performance , Research Subject Categories::SOCIAL SCIENCES::Social sciences::Education
Citation
Akanni,O.O ; Emeri,P.N & Oketade,O. (2019). Impact of test-taking skills in mathematics on adolescents academic performance in Lagos,Nigeria.International Journal of Development Strategies Research in Humanities ,Management and Social Science(IJDSRHMSS). Coventry University, United Kingdom ,9(4),126-139.