Introduction:

Test Anxiety (TA) is common among university students and involves cognitive, motor, and physiological manifestations of tension and permanent concern about exams that may affect their academic performance.

Objective:

Assess whether engagement, emotional intelligence and factors associated with academic test solving predict the manifestations of TA in a sample of 400 university students.

Method:

Using a cross-sectional predictive design, engagement (Vigor, Dedication, Absorption), emotional intelligence (Attention, Clarity, Repair) and several factors related to academic test solving were evaluated, analyzing their relationship with the manifestations of TA, and categorical regression models were constructed to define the predictive level of the variables.

Results:

The relationship between engagement and TA was discarded (p>0,05) while Clarity and Repair were inversely associated with TA manifestations, except the physiological ones. Different factors associated with exams such as professor control, fear of exams and the question type predict physiological (R2=0,10, p<0,01), motor (R2=0,09, p<0,01) and cognitive (R2=0,12, p<0,01) anxiety responses. Clarity predicts motor anxiety (β=-0,131, p<0,01) negatively.

Conclusions:

Academic engagement and TA are registered as independent variables of each other; meanwhile, emotional Clarity regulates motor anxiety weakly. Cognitive and situational factors at the time of exams are relevant in the triggering of the anxious response.

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