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The Level of Anxiety of College Students When It Comes to Numbers

A research presented to the

College of Psychology of Colegio De Sebastian

City of San Fernando, Pampanga

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of

Bachelor of Science in Psychology

Batu, Jaivin Neil T.

Bolima, Czcharina Mae

Basilio, Carl Justin Y.

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

According to American Psychological Association (2016), anxiety is defined as

worried thoughts, feeling of unease to a futuristic situation. Students experiencing anxiety

also experience an increase of blood pressure. Anxiety is anticipation of an external or

internal danger that may occur especially when students see numerical values in a subject.

Math anxiety can be defined as negative emotions involving subject like mathematics. It is

a reoccurring problem for many students and this causes a negative approach for numbers.

Some signs are sweating and nervousness of the participants (Young & Wu, 2012). Having

math anxiety can be a reason for students to neglect and procrastinate the subjects like

mathematics and other subjects that has numerical values (Rubinsten & Tannock, 2010).

According to Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2015) an

average of 30.6%, adolescent participants were experiencing anxiety when they are solving

math problems. It is estimated that, 80% of college students in United States were having

math anxiety (Adelson, 2014). Older students are having higher anxiety than younger

students when it comes to numbers. Even though older students were optimist towards the

value of numbers in everyday life (Baloglu, 2003).

Anxiety in numbers seems to get higher if there was a given time pressure to

students who are answering math problems. The reason why the researchers wanted to

pursue this study is 80% of graduate students have low performance in numbers when it

comes to mathematics (Onwuegbuzie, 2010). Math anxiety is the reason why students
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declined the subject if it consists of numbers like mathematics, algebra and statistics.

Knowing the level of anxiety of the students can help them to overcome their fear in

numbers and help them to prevent in having anxiety in math. Using independent variables,

time pressure and the teaching style of the teacher tried to measure the dependent variable

for the level of anxiety of college students when it comes to numerical figures,

mathematical anxiety is a reason for low performance of capable students (Russel, 2017).

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Math anxiety is a negative approach to math that can cause tension, worry and

anticipation of fear into adolescence. That causes a student to avoid a subject when seeing

numerical values (Adelson, 2014). Mathematics anxiety can be defined as an irrational

thoughts and anticipation of danger when seeing numbers (Tsanwani, 2009). Students

having mathematical anxiety can be describe the panic, helplessness, mental paralysis and

disorganization that arise when students are required to solve mathematical problems

(Hlalele, 2012). Mathematical anxiety refers to a person’s feelings of tension and anxiety

because there is a manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems.

(Khatoon & Mahmood, 2010; Leppavirta, 2011; Newstead, 2006; Perry, 2004). Students

who performed well in class have a higher math anxiety than the average students (Klass,

2017). One sign of having a math anxiety is increase of heart rate when answering

mathematical problems. Mathematical anxiety is a state of uneasiness that can be

associated to student’s performance regarding for answering mathematical problems. It

stated that having math anxiety could lead to negative effects, like in performance of a
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student especially for women. Based on the study, women are more anxious than men

(Devine, Fawcett, Szűcs & Dowker, 2012). Math anxiety can be associated with

physiological symptoms like shaking, sweating and muscle tension to a student. (Perry,

2004).

According to the research of Stanford University School of Medicine (2004), math

anxiety has a biological and neurological basis in a student who is experiencing anxiety

when it comes to math. Students having math anxiety is the same as how people respond to

a fearful situation when seeing snakes (Nauert, 2012). Working memory is important for

students in solving numerical problems especially in math. “Students simply anticipate

doing math, those high in math anxiety show greater activity in brain regions associated

with visceral threat detection and the experience of pain (dorsoposterior insula) than those

low in math anxiety.” (Lyons & Beilock, 2012). According to Witt (2012), “The anxious

reaction causes a fall in central executive working memory functioning, something that has

been shown in many studies to underpin successful mathematical processing.” It is also the

reason why students have worrying thoughts in working memory that causes them to avoid

answering math problems (Young, 2012). Students worries ties up with working memory

or known as the “mental scratchpad” that allows to “work” with whatever information held

in consciousness (Beilock, 2010). “Students with the highest working memory capacity

show the strongest negative relation between math anxiety and math performance.”

(Beilock & Carr, 2005; Ramirez, Gunderson, Levine, & Beilock, 2013; Vukovic, Kieffer,

Bailey, & Harari, 2013). Math anxiety disrupts the working memory of the students that

causes to decline when solving mathematical equations (Young, Wu, & Menon, 2012).

Having math anxiety is a condition when students try to escape or avoid answering
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mathematical problems because there is a stimulus that causes anxiety when they see

numbers (Hopko, 2003). Many people are experiencing mathematical anxiety in everyday

life.

Some students already experienced anxiety when reading mathematical equations,

having math anxiety can be a hindrance to students (Ashcraft & Moore, 2009). Avoiding

the subject mathematics is a natural response of the students in avoiding uneasiness. Even

the anticipation of fear in numbers can be painful for them (Lyons and Beilock, 2012).

Stereotyping of the subject mathematics can affect the college students’ attitudes and

performance in math class (Scarpello, 2007). Students having low self-efficacy have poor

achievement behaviors and be motivated to engage in learning mathematics (Schunk and

Pajares, 2009). Students having math anxiety can be a reason to decrease their achievement

in mathematics. Wrong calculations of other people can affect students to feel nervousness

when computing manually of numbers (Lee, 2009). Math anxiety is a combination of

cognitive predisposition and pessimist attitudes toward the numbers that started when they

were young (Maloney & Beilock, 2012). Students who do not master the simple numbers

can be a later conflict for them not to understand the complex mathematics problem

(Aunola, Leskinen, Lerkkanen, & Nurmi, 2004). Math anxiety appears to increase in

development of the children until it peaks at about ninth or tenth grade and until they

became old (Donelle, Hoffman-Goetz, & Arocha, 2007). For students who are optimist in

their early experience in the subject mathematics, tends to have less anxious than students

who are pessimist when seeing numbers (Popham, 2008). Adding many requirements in the

subject mathematics increase the anxiety of students and decrease the accuracy of the
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answers in solving mathematical problems (Ashcraft, 2002; Popham, 2008; Tsui &

Mazzocco, 2007).

The main root reason of having math anxiety of students are the kind of teaching

styles of the teachers and the experience of students in the classroom when answering math

when they were younger. “A poor grasp of basic math concepts may predispose students to

develop math anxiety, partly in response to their math struggles.” (Levine, Gunderson,

Maloney, Ramirez, & Beilock, 2015). Reason of the students that can cause anxiety to a

student is that the teacher who taught mathematics is anxious while teaching (Finlayson,

2014). The teacher, teaching math problems anxiously can be a reason why students are

also anxious when answering math problems. Students have the lowest performance rate

when the subject consist of numbers. Some reason of the students is the educators have

poor performance when teaching math subject (Saad, 2005). According to Ashcraft &

Krause (2007), math anxiety and math achievement has a connection to the performance of

the students. The child’s educational environment like at home and school can affect the

child’s attitude when seeing numbers. “Parents’ math anxiety had a strong positive

relation to children’s math anxiety and that children’s math anxiety, in turn, was

negatively related to their math performance” (Soni & Kumari, 2015). The mother’s

attitude and approach toward mathematics is an important factor to children in having a

positive attitude toward mathematics and achieve positive attitudes in mathematics

(Scarpello, 2007). “Social interaction moderates the relation between parent math anxiety

and child math performance indicates that this relation is not readily explained by genetics

alone” (Maloney, Ramirez, Gunderson, Levine, & Beilock, 2015).

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According to Cabahug and Ladot (2005), the students at University of the

Philippines (UP) have the greatest failure when the subject is mathematics. One out of three

students failed and repeated the subject mathematics. Students procrastinate the

performance in basic mathematics. It is also stated that the attitude of the students towards

mathematics has been a great concern. According to Cabahug and Ladot (2005), stated that

the attitude of students in answering mathematical problems can affect the performance

that can turn to negative attitudes and low performance of students. Teachers who are stress

must ensure that their students have the confidence to apply mathematics in their everyday

lives. In other words, teachers need to be confidence in teaching mathematics in order to

prevent the students in having mathematical anxiety. Most teachers of early years, lack

mathematical knowledge, confidence and a positive view in ideas and strategy when

teaching mathematics. It can cause to students to feel anxious when seeing numerical

values (Education Queensland, 2007). According to Bilbase and Shashidar (2010), the

classrooms and teaching of the teacher have a significant impact on shaping the attitude of

the students towards the subject mathematics. The attitude of the parent when teaching

their child mathematics can be an impact to the child’s attitude in the future. Parents who

taught mathematics anxiously can also be the reason for children to have mathematical

anxiety. Attitudes and anxieties play a significant role of students to neglect and decline if

the subject is mathematics. “Competitive performance and testing environments can create

anxiety about meeting math performance expectations” (Ramirez & Beilock, 2011).

According to Ormrod (2008), students having small level of anxiety can help to

increase their learning and performance in school. Students who have experience small

amount of unease have shown to perform better on test than those students with no anxiety
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at all. Having anxiety can also improve the students’ awareness because of the anticipation

of danger, which can lead a student to study more and to avoid failing math subjects

(Sutherland, 2011). According to Hidi (2011), preference in processing certain types of

information in working memory of the student is determined by enthusiastic of learning

mathematics. Negative interest can affect the working memory to block the information if

the subject consists of numbers. The enthusiastic of students play an important role in

motivating them to answer mathematical problems. If the students are enthusiastic in the

mathematics subject, it is more likely that the students will persuade to learn information

about numbers no matter how hard the subject may be (Keiff, 2005). “Math anxiety, lab

studies suggest that psychological techniques emphasizing self-regulation, emotional

control, and reappraisal of physiological threat” (Jamieson, Mendes, Blackstock, &

Schmader, 2010; Lyons & Beilock, 2011; Park et al., 2014).

According to (Geist 2010), ‘’A proponent of new teaching methods that take

student thinking into account, also recognizes that gender issues ad parental education can

play a part in math anxiety”. Teacher plays an important role in creating atmosphere and

lesson plans given to the students. It is unclear what is connection of emotion and thoughts

to anxiety and the relationship of the two that causes mathematical anxiety of the students.

Difficult mathematical test causes regurgitation of the students and higher possibility of

having higher mathematical anxiety of the students. However, he emphasizes the prominent

role that teachers play in creating concussive learning atmospheres and setting realistic

targets for their students. Math anxiety is commonly known as an influence of the students’

decision to what classes to take and often leads to avoidance of the mathematics.
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Eliminating the subject mathematics to the students’ curriculum can be a hindrance to be

successful and can narrow their career options in life (Maloney, 2012). Students who suffer

from Mathematics anxiety have low self-confidence in their ability to solve mathematics

and tend to avoid the subject that consists of numbers. The researchers focused on aspects

of mathematical anxiety such as students’ uneasiness behavior when solving mathematical

equations. Failing to complete tasks on time and lack of confidence when handling

mathematics tasks is one of the common problems of the students (Iossi, 2007).

Mathematical anxiety can be a reason to the students to limits their career choice options

(Garry, 2005). According to, Uusimaki and Nason (2004), found that most of the primary

pre-service teachers attributed their primary school experiences in learning mathematics.

Pre-service teachers enter the teaching profession with relatively stable commitments to

their beliefs. That causes for the pre-services teachers to be anxious and taught the students

with anxious feeling.

According to Traxler (2013), there are three primary causes of math anxiety to the

students. These are beliefs, learning environment and an anticipation of events. Beliefs

include negative stereotypes about one’s gender and different variations of culture.

“Numerous aspects of culture, including gender and race stereotypes, associations of math

achievement with brilliance” (Leslie, Cimpian, Meyer, & Freeland, 2015). Female students

are exposed to which may influence their heightened anxiety when it comes to

environmental factor (Mitt, 2012). Mathematics anxiety is found to blocked the positive

thinking of the students when learning mathematics. The fear in numbers causes the

students to have low self-esteem, disappointment and having academic failure in the
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subject mathematics (Gresham, 2004; Akin & Kurbanoglu, 2011). Having high levels of

math anxiety of causes a lot discomfort for students and teachers. Teachers should know

how to balance between subject cognitive demands and high student level of anxiety. There

is a relationship between anxiety and learning of the students in mathematics. Anxiety is a

form of arousal of alertness that can be helpful in learning but too much mathematical

anxiety can be a hindrance to the students (Posamentier, Smith & Stepelman, 2013). The

individual’s task in the subject mathematics can be related to the amount of anxiety and

performance of the students (Newstead, 2009). People also experience anxiety when

engaging in everyday math tasks like calculating a tip at a restaurant or deciding whether or

not they received the proper change at the grocery store (Maloney & Beilock, 2012). Some

people have high levels of math anxiety when simply reading aloud mathematical

equations (Ashcraft & Moore, 2009).

The students who have high level of math anxiety is linked to decreased math

achievement in the subject mathematics (Lee, 2009). Decreased in math performance can

affect the academic situations of the students. Math anxiety can be related to poor drug

calculations among nurse students (McMullan, Jones, & Lea, 2012). People even outside of

academics, math anxiety plays an important role that causes for people to avoid calculating

in people’s everyday lives. (Swars, Daane, & Giesen, 2006). Number comparison is a core

numerical skill, and one’s ability to compare two numbers serves as a building block for

more complex math. People with a larger numerical distance effect tend to have poorer

fluency in mathematics (Holloway & Ansari, 2009; Mundy & Gilmore, 2009). People who

employed the expressive writing technique with anxious students, found that students
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whose writing showed more evidence of anticipation of the upcoming test as a challenge

showed the greatest benefit of writing for the students dealing with mathematical anxiety

(Ramirez & Beilock, 2011). “Math anxiety is correlated with taking test anxiety and more

general trait anxiety, intercorrelations between different measures of math anxiety are

stronger than those between math anxiety and test or general anxiety” (Dowker, Sarkar, &

Loo, 2016). Additionally, math anxiety is a predictive of math test performance of the

students (Lukowski, 2016).

According to Kizlik (2012), study habits can help the students in different ways.

Study habits can improve the learning and understanding about the mathematical problems

and can help the students to overcome their fear when dealing with numbers. A positive

relationship between motivation and study habits can made students to have a positive view

when answering mathematical problems (Ning and Downing, 2010). Answering

mathematical problems can help the student to overcome their fear in numbers and improve

their learning skills in answering mathematical problem (Life Means Health, 2010).

According to Liu (2008), one of the common problems of college students to overcome

their mathematical anxiety is that the damage is hard to repair. It needs a lot of effort to

lessen their fear in numbers. Student’s beliefs in their own abilities in answering

mathematics is an important factor for students to have a successfully grit to learn

mathematics (Marsh and O’Mara, 2008).

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SYNTHESIS

The study determines to know the level of anxiety of the college students using the

Abbreviated Mathematical Anxiety Rating Scale (A-MARS). The researcher aims to

determine effects of having mathematical anxiety of the students and to be able to avoid

procrastination of the subject mathematics. The researcher also aims to stop the

stereotyping of the students when answering mathematical equations (Scarpello, 2007). It

also aims to know the performance of the college students in a class when the subject is

mathematics and how to change the attitudes in mathematics.

The researcher aims to know the cause and root of mathematical anxiety of the

students. According to Finlayson (2014), teachers who teach anxiously could be the reason

for students to have negative point of view in the subject mathematics. This research could

help the students to overcome and lessen their mathematical anxiety in math. Study habits

could be one of the key to overcome the mathematical anxiety (Kizli, 2012). The researcher

will point out if there are other reasons, like the attitude of the mother when teaching their

children mathematics and can lead to the students to have a negative performance and

attitudes when they get older (Scarpello, 2007). In this study, the main goal is to prevent

other students to have a mathematical anxiety in numbers. By means of changing the study

habits and positive view of the students when they are answering mathematical problems.

That can promote to lessen their mathematical anxiety (Ning and Downing, 2010).
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CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The main topic of the study is to know the level of anxiety of the students. The

researcher has used a 5-point Likert scale, named as the Abbreviated Mathematical Anxiety

Rating Scale (A-MARS) that consists of 25-item questionnaire and try to measure the

students’ level of anxiety. The respondents for the study are the college students at College

of our Lady of Mt. Carmel. The researchers gave an exam that consisted of mathematical

problems to college students to know their reactions and level of anxiety when they are

seeing numbers. Using the intervention of anxious teacher, normal teacher and time

pressure tried to determine if they have a significant relationship or differences for students

to have a mathematical anxiety. The place will be at College of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel,

Room 402. The time will be 2:00pm to 3:0O pm (Friday). The independent variables for

the study are the time pressure, anxious teacher and normal teacher. Using independent

variables will try to determine to measure the dependent variable, level of anxiety of the

college students. Teaching styles of the teachers that taught mathematics with unease

feeling can cause students to have mathematical anxiety when answering number problems

(Finlayson, 2014). Time pressure can be a reason for a student to procrastinate and feel

uneasiness when answering mathematical problems.

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CONCEPTUAL PARADIGM

Input Process Output

Figure 1: The Level of Anxiety of the College Students When It Comes to Numbers
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STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The study will determine the significant relationship of college students’

mathematical anxiety between time pressure and the teaching style of the teacher. It also

determines the cause of mathematical anxiety and effects of having mathematical anxiety

of the students.

Specifically, it is sought to answer the following questions:

1. How may the informants be described in terms of?

A. Age;

B. Gender;

C. Course;

2. Is there a significant difference between time pressure and mathematical anxiety?

3. Is there a significant difference between anxious teacher and mathematical anxiety?

4. Is there a significant difference between normal teacher, time pressure and

mathematical anxiety?

5. Is there a significant difference between anxious teacher, time pressure and

mathematical anxiety?

6. Is there a significant relationship between time pressure and mathematical anxiety?

7. Is there a significant relationship between anxious teacher and mathematical

anxiety?

8. Is there a significant relationship between normal teacher and mathematical

anxiety?
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9. Is there a significant relationship between anxious teacher, time pressure and

mathematical anxiety?

10. Is there a significant relationship between normal teacher, time pressure and

mathematical anxiety?

HYPOTHESES

H1: There is no significant difference between the time pressure and level of anxiety when

it comes to numbers of the college students.

H2: There is no significant difference between the anxious teacher and level of anxiety

when it comes to numbers of the college students.

H3: There is no significant difference between the normal teacher and level of anxiety

when it comes to numbers of the college students.

H4: There is no significant difference among the anxious teacher and time pressure and

level of anxiety when it comes to numbers of the college students.

H5: There is no significant difference among the normal teacher and time pressure and

level of anxiety when it comes to numbers of the college students.

H6: There is a significant difference between the time pressure and level of anxiety when it

comes to numbers of the college students.

H7: There is a significant difference between the anxious teacher and level of anxiety when

it comes to numbers of the college students.

H8: There is a significant difference between the normal teacher and level of anxiety when

it comes to numbers of the college students.

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H9: There is a significant difference among the anxious teacher and time pressure and level

of anxiety when it comes to numbers of the college students.

H10: There is a significant difference among the normal teacher and time pressure and

level of anxiety when it comes to numbers of the college students.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The people who will benefit from this study are the psychology students who are

experiencing math anxiety can use the study to give information about the mathematics. All

the information learned from this study can also help other students. The school will be

able to implement the information and perhaps create programs that can improve the level

of awareness to college students having mathematical anxiety. Programs that could help the

students cope with this kind of anxiety could be created. The teachers and instructors

especially the math teachers will be aware if their teaching style in mathematics promote

negative attitudes to students. The teachers can also improve the way they teach to help the

students when having hard time in answering mathematical problems. The students can use

this study to prevent and overcome their mathematical anxiety. This can help the students

to change their study habits and improve their learning mathematics. The study aims to

help the future researchers and can use this research as a reference or a source of

information about their topic and help the students who have a mathematical anxiety.
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DEFINITON OF TERMS

Anxiety- is an extreme apprehension of thoughts and worry about future uncertainties. It is

an emotion of unpleasant state of inner turmoil that often cause by nervous behavior. Some

signs of anxiety are: nausea, sleep problems and heart palpitations.

Mathematical Anxiety- it is an anxiety about feeling of nervousness, worry of thoughts

whenever someone sees number or solving mathematical problem. It is a phenomenon

when examining the students in a subject that involves number.

Time Pressure- this is also known as the last minute is a type of psychological stress that

occurs when a student has less time available to answer the equations in exam and not the

necessary time to complete an exam. Students who felt time pressured in answering

mathematical problems can narrow their focus. Time pressure could also be a reason why

students cannot concentrate when answering mathematical problems.

Teacher- is a person that helps others to acquire knowledge, competence or values. A

teacher who is nervous when teaching mathematics can also make students to feel unease

when answering questions regarding numbers.

Procrastination- It is an avoidance of task that needs to be accomplished. It is also known

as the last few minutes when student try to finish their task in few minutes. A student who
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is having mathematical anxiety are most likely to delay their work because they have

negative attitudes when seeing numbers.

Mathematics- it is a science of quantity numbers and operation, combinations,

generalizations and measurement. Some subject that consist of mathematics are algebra,

trigonometry, arithmetic and calculus. Most of the students are having a mathematical

anxiety that causes for a student to neglect and delay their work when it comes to subject

that consist of numbers.

Working memory- it is a cognitive system known as the short term that is responsible of

storing and managing required information to complex understanding. It is information-

processing information that includes encoding, receiving and retrieving data.

Study habits- is a behavior used when preparing for a test. Student who study until the

very last night before an exam and then stays up all night trying to absorb all the

information can be a good example of study habits. Study habits is a pattern of students

when studying their lessons. Having a poor study habits can lead to cramming and

procrastination of the students.

SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS

The scope and limitations of the study is the time span of the researcher conducting the

study. The amount of time is limited. The researcher has an inclusion of criteria of the

respondents. The students of College of our Lady of Mt. Carmel, City of San Fernando,
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Pampanga are allowed to participate in the study. There are a lot of exclusion criteria for

the students, other schools and college students are not allowed to participate in the study

because it is time consuming and for financial reasons of the researcher. There are few

respondents that participated in the study. This made the researcher limited to its sources

and information when it comes to the data gathered by the researchers.

The researcher used a 5-point Likert scale named as the Abbreviated Mathematical Anxiety

Rating Scale (A-MARS) to measure the anxiety of the participating students and used

interventions for the independent variable, namely the teaching style of the teacher and the

time pressure when the student is answering math problems. The sources of the researcher

in the study are journals, books and other studies that came from the internet. It makes the

data limited to its information provided.

CHAPTER II

METHODS

The researchers used a quantitative research to measure the level of anxiety of the

college students. Using an experimental research design to determine the cause and effect

of the study. The participants have been chosen by the use of random sampling method

which used allowed all of the students to have a chance in being part of the study. The

participants are the student of College of our Lady of Mt. Carmel San Fernando,

Pampanga. The instrument used in the study is a standardized questionnaire named as,

Abbreviated Mathematical Anxiety Rating Scale (A-MARS) it is a 5-point Likert scale that

can be measure by (1- Not at all, 2- A little, 3-A fair amount, 4-Much, 5-Very much). The

questionnaire consisted of 25-item that can measure the level of anxiety of the students.
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RESEARCH DESIGN

The researchers used experimental research design to be able to measure the level

of anxiety of the college students. Experimental research design used to control the

extraneous variable to avoid other factor that might affect the variables. The experimental

research design is used to determine the cause and effect of the study. The researchers used

random sampling participant is used in a subset of a statistical population in which each

member of the subset has an equal probability of being chosen. Every participant was

chosen in unbiased way. The Group will be divided into two the control and the

experimental group. In the experimental group, there will be intervention (Anxious teacher

and Time Pressure). In the control group, there will be no intervention. To compare the two

if there is a difference between the two groups.

SAMPLING

The participants of the study are the students of College of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

at City of San Fernando, Pampanga. The ages of the participant will range from 18 to 25

years old. All males and females will participate in the study. Ethical permission of the

researcher will be approved by the school. Every participant will be given inform consent

to ensure not to violate any ethical considerations. The participants have the rights to

withdraw if they want to. The researcher will use random sampling method that will let

each member of the population to have an equal chance of being selected as subject. The

entire process of sampling is done in a single step with each subject selected independently
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of the other members of the population. The group will be divided into two the control and

experimental group.

INSTRUMENTATION

The researchers made a quiz that consist of 10-item to measure the participants’

performance when answering mathematical problems. The quiz tried to measure if time

pressure and anxious teacher can be one of the reasons of the student to feel anxious in the

subject mathematics. The researcher used a standardized questionnaire named as, the

Abbreviated Mathematical Anxiety Rating Scale (A-MARS) it is a 5-point Likert scale that

can be measure by (1- Not at all, 2- A little, 3-A fair amount, 4-Much, 5-Very much). The

questionnaire consists of 25-item to measure the level of anxiety of the college students.

The researcher asked permission to Livingston Alexander if the questionnaire can be used.

The validity of the questionnaire is (High correlational=0.92). It has internal reliability of

(0.96) and test-retest reliability of (0.90).

DATA GATHERING

The researchers will give asked permission to College of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

to conduct the study in the school. The researchers will do random sampling method to

determine the subject in unbiased way. The time will be 2:00pm to 3:0O pm (Friday) at

Room 402. The participants will be divided into two the experimental and control group.

The researcher will manipulate the experimental group by giving interventions (anxious

teacher and time pressure). The control group will not receive any interventions. After,
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dividing into two groups the researchers will give 10-item questionnaires that consist of

mathematical problems. To know the level of anxiety of the students when answering math

equations. In the end of the experiment the researchers will give Abbreviated Mathematical

Anxiety Rating Scale (A-MARS) a 5-point Likert scale that consist of 25-item to measure

the level of anxiety of the college students.

DATA ANALYSIS

Using the questionnaire Abbreviated Mathematical Anxiety Rating Scale (A-MARS)

a 5-point Likert scale that consists of 25-item tried to measure the level of anxiety of the

college students. The researchers used T- test a The experimental group (Anxious Teacher,

Time Pressure and Level of Anxiety) and control group (Normal Teacher, No Time Pressure

and Level of Anxiety). The researcher would manipulate the antecedent condition to control

the extraneous variable for the experiment. The researcher will be using Microsoft Excel

2013 and statistical package for social science (SPSS) v.17 in computing the two different

groups.

Group A (No Time Pressure and Normal Teacher

Value Label Frequency Percent

Very Low Anxiety 0 0
Low Anxiety 5 33.33
Moderate Anxiety 10 66.67
High Anxiety 0 0
Very High Anxiety 0 0

Group B (Time Pressure and Anxious Teacher)

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Value Label Frequency Percent

Very Low Anxiety 0 0
Low Anxiety 0 0
Moderate Anxiety 1 6.67
High Anxiety 8 53.33
Very High Anxiety 6 40.00

Paired T- test

Mean N Std. Deviation S. E. Mean

Group A 52.47 15 9.77 2.52
Group B 94.60 15 13.24 3.42

Significant and Correlation

N Correlation Sig.
Group A and B 15 -.01 .984

CHAPTER III

RESULTS

The result shows that in Group A most of the medical student falls to moderate

anxiety with a percent of 66.67. Other participants fall to low anxiety with a percent of

33.33. It can be concluded that there are other factors that could be a reason why medical

students have an anxiety regarding the subject mathematics. In the Group B, it shows that

most of the student have high anxiety when there is an intervention in time pressure and the

teaching method of the teacher. In the experimental group, 53.33 of the participants
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confirm that they are anxious when answering mathematical equation that has time

pressure. Other participants feel moderate anxiety with a percent of 6.67 and Very High

anxiety with a percent of 40.00. It can also be seen in the result that, there is a relationship

between the teaching method and time pressure when answering mathematical equations.

The correlation shows direct correlation which means if one variable

increases the other too. It shows that, there is no significant difference between the two

values which means there are other factors that might affect the study. The reason why

there is no significant difference is because the main root reason of having math anxiety of

students are the experience of students in the classroom when answering math when they

were a kid. Having a hard time answering basic mathematics can lead to anxiety of the

students when they become older (Levine, Gunderson, Maloney, Ramirez, & Beilock,

2015). Public embarrassment of the students when they were younger have been

recognized as sources of unproductive tension when they get older.

CHAPTER IV

DISCUSSION

The study shows that there is a relationship between time pressure and teaching

method of the teacher but, there is no significant difference between the two variables. The

reason why there is no significant difference is that the students feel anxious of answering

basic math because of time pressure and embarrassment in public. Still, time pressure and

teaching method of the teacher has a relationship for a student to have an anxiety in the

subject mathematics (Levine, Gunderson, Maloney, Ramirez, & Beilock, 2015). The
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attitude of students in answering mathematical equations can affect the performance in

class and can cause negative attitudes and low performance of students. The teaching of the

teachers can be a great impact for the students to have a mathematical anxiety. Teachers

should show how to properly enjoy math without feeling anxious and pressure in the

subject (Education Queensland, 2007).

Time pressure and anxious teacher has a relationship for the student to

have an anxiety. It can be show that there are a lot of reasons for the medical student to

have a mathematical anxiety. Even if there is no time pressure in the other group. It

confirms that mathematical anxiety is instill in every student while answering the

mathematical equation. Study habits can improve the knowledge about mathematical

problems. It can help the students to overcome their fear when answering mathematical

equations. Being optimist can lessen the students’ anxiety when it comes to mathematics

(Ning and Downing, 2010).

CONCLUSION

The study shows that there is a relationship between time pressure and the

reaching method of the teachers. That causes for the student to have a mathematical anxiety

in class. Medical students have a higher anxiety than those other courses. There is no

significant difference between the time pressure and anxious teacher. Which shows that

there is other extraneous variable that causes for the students to have a mathematical

anxiety when dealing with numbers. Having a hard time understanding basic mathematics

can be a one of reason for a student to have a mathematical anxiety when they get older. It
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shows in the result of the test that, students who have a mathematical anxiety can decrease

their performance when dealing with numbers.

When the students decreased their performance in mathematics. It can cause for

the students to failed in the subject mathematics. Math anxiety can be related to poor drug

calculations among medical students. Which can be harmful for their future patients.

Exerting effort of the teacher to help the students overcoming their fear can improve the

students understanding in answering mathematical equation. Explaining and understanding

the basic mathematics can lessen the anxiety of the students. Showing positive view of the

teacher can improve the students view when seeing numbers. Programs how to overcome

the fear in mathematics can improve the students’ knowledge in improving their

mathematical performance in class.

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APPENDICES

A. Inform Consent

B. Abbreviated Mathematical Anxiety Rating Scale (A-MARS)

C. Mathematical Questions
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