An investigation of the effects of cognitive therap y training on test anxiety in secondary education

This study aims to determine the effectiveness of cognitive training on test anxiety of high school girls. This study is a semi-experimental one with pre-test - post-test design and control group respectively. The study population was all female high school students in Tabriz. 60 students having test anxiety after performing a diagnostic test questionnaire (Sarason) were selected through multistage random sampling and were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group had cognitive therapy training for 8 sessions; the control group did not receive any intervention. Test results was analyzed using ANCOVA, T. Results showed that anxiety symptoms in subjects in the experimental group compared with the control group significantly decreased. In other words, cognitive therapy training method is effective in reducing test anxiety.