The relationship between motivation and achievement in low-stakes examinations

Achievement tests are used in several settings in applied measurement. A serious problem inherent in low-stakes tests is that it cannot be assumed that all examinees will make their best effort, which suggests that test scores of some examinees may underrate the level of academic performance of which they are capable. In this study the relationship between motivation and achievement in low-stakes examinations was examined. A sample (N = 797) of ninth-grade students sat either a mathematics or a science examination. It was found that a high level of motivation to take the examination invariably increased mean performance in both examinations and the correlation was significant.