A Review of the Impact of Self-Efficacy and Psychological Resilience on Test Anxiety in Middle School Students

Test anxiety is a common problem among middle school students in the fiercely competitive academic atmosphere created by important exams like the National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao) and the Middle School Entrance Examination (Zhongkao). Test anxiety, as a common negative emotion, significantly affects students' mental health and academic performance in examinations. It is a widespread and profoundly impactful psychological issue. This paper reviews the research literature on the relationship between self-efficacy, psychological resilience, and test anxiety in middle school students. The results indicate that in middle school students, Self-efficacy (SE) is negatively correlated with TA, and Psychological Resilience (PR) is also negatively correlated with Test Anxiety (TA), suggesting they have a mitigating and predictive role in students' TA. Furthermore, there has been limited recent research on the impact of SE and PR on TA among university students, with most studies focusing on the middle school level. Therefore, investigating this impact on university students may become a future research trend.