Higher internet literacy is associated with lower test anxiety in online exams¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2022 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

Reading the evidence codes

q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.

This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.

q2 i? Internet literacy was negatively associated with test anxiety: students with higher internet literacy reported lower test anxiety. The survey design cannot show that literacy causes the difference. → Conijn 2022

Evidence¶

Conijn 2022¶

Conijn, R., Kleingeld, A., Matzat, U., & Snijders, C. (2022). The fear of big brother: The potential negative side-effects of proctored exams. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 38(6), 1521-1534. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12651

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Multi-level model M2 (Table 4) on test anxiety in proctored and non-proctored online exams, with internet literacy measured on a subset of the 21st-century digital skills questionnaire (α = 0.82). The study reports "Internet literacy showed a negative effect on test anxiety" (hypothesis 2.2 supported), but internet literacy was measured, not manipulated, in an observational survey, so the result is a negative association rather than a demonstrated causal effect.

"Internet literacy showed a negative effect on test anxiety, showing that students with higher internet literacy, show lower amounts of test anxiety."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

Affect Regulation — outcome: instruction changes it
Digital Literacy — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes

Digital skills gaps span demographic groups and shape e-learning, job performance, and earnings — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it
Familiarity with online and proctored exams, approximated by exam quartile, shows no effect on test anxiety — related
Students taking online and proctored online exams report higher test anxiety than students taking on-campus exams and non-proctored online exams — related
Lack of study space and financial issues are associated with higher test anxiety in online exams, and reliable technology with lower — related
Learning strategies relate to test anxiety: persistence positively, environmental structuring negatively, time management not significantly, and women report higher test anxiety — related
Test anxiety is negatively associated with exam performance, and no moderation by proctoring was detected — related
Proctored online exams show no effect on students' perceived exam difficulty — related

Page metadata

Field	Value
`type`	`claim`
`id`	`internet-literacy-lower-test-anxiety`
`title`	`Higher internet literacy is associated with lower test anxiety in online exams`
`description`	`Higher internet literacy is associated with lower test anxiety in online exams`
`status`	`review`
`evidence_strength`	`moderate`
`newest_evidence`	`2022`
`source_checked`	`2026-10-20`
`generated`	by `process:wiki-ingest` on `2026-10-12`
`trust`	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
`sources`	1 — `conijn-2022`

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