Fear of Failure and the Pass-Fail Grading Option

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Abstract
The Pass-Fail (P-F) option presents (a) a natural setting for testing some implications of Atkinson’s concept of “fear of failure” (1, 2) and (b) a practical setting for evaluating one aspect of university policy. A sample of students enrolled for P-F credit was compared (on test anxiety, grade utilities under chance and skill conditions, grades, and course loads) with another sample taking course work under an A-F grading system. Only partial confirmation was found for a prediction that test anxiety should be negatively correlated with the difference between grade utilities under chance and under skill conditions. Other findings were (a) that test anxiety and grade option were not significantly correlated, and (b) that the P-F sample had significantly higher grades and heavier course loads.

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