The Effect of Math Anxiety on Students Performance in the Intermediate and Secondary Classes

This research study aims at examining the relationship between math anxiety and students' performance, through their overall grade averages in mathematics, in the intermediate and secondary classes excluding grade twelve. For this research study, the researchers were not interested in determining the cause and effect between students' math anxiety, the independent variable, and their performance, the dependent variable, so they have remained observers during the process. The sample of the study has consisted of 124 participants out of 1620 students, 84 in classes of the intermediate level and 40 in the first and second year secondary, from two different private schools. First, the researchers have determined students' overall mathematical grade averages based on grade cards delivered by the administrations of both private schools at the end of the academic year. After that, the researchers have employed a standardized five point likert scale survey questionnaire for math anxiety self-test as the research instrument. Through the quantitative approach, the researchers have adopted the correlation design to explore the possible relationship between students' math anxiety and their performance, through their overall mathematical grade averages. For statistics, the researchers have used the bar diagram and the scatter plot to represent the data collected, the correlation coefficient and the one way ANOVA test for analysis. Results of the study have revealed that anxiety has a strong negative correlation and a significant effect on the overall mathematical grade averages of the sample of students in the intermediate and secondary levels excluding grade twelve. The researchers recommend teachers to detect if math anxiety is negatively affecting students' performance and adopt the students-centered approach to support the learning and performance of the highly anxious students. In addition, future researches should be dedicated to examining the impact of math exams anxiety in grade 12 and primary classes, and determining math chapters that trigger students' math anxiety the most.