In another demonstration of the many factors that affect exam success, three experiments involving a total of 131 college students have found that seeing the letter A before an exam makes a student more likely to perform better than if he sees the letter F instead. In the first experiment, 23 undergraduates took a word-analogies test, of which half were labeled "Test Bank ID: F" in the top right corner, and half "Test Bank ID: A". The A group got an average of 11.08 of 12 answers correct, compared to 9.42 for the F group. The same pattern was confirmed in two more studies. Moreover, performance of students whose exams were labeled "Test Bank ID:J" fell between those with the A and F test papers. While hard to believe, these findings are consistent with the many findings supporting the idea of "stereotype threat" (the tendency to do less well on a test when a person fears their performance could confirm a negative stereotype about their racial or gender group).
Letters A and F affect test scores
Reference
Ciani, K. D., & Sheldon, K. M. (2010). A versus F: The effects of implicit letter priming on cognitive performance. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 80, 99-119. Retrieved from http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bpsoc/bjep/2010/00000080/00000001/art00006
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