The mediating role of test anxiety in the evolution of motivation and achievement of students transitioning from elementary to high school

•Test anxiety mediates changes in academic self-concept for both boys and girls.•It also mediates changes in girls’ motivation and achievement in mathematics.•Female students are especially susceptible to test anxiety in mathematics.•Test anxiety plays no role in the changes observed in language arts. The transition to secondary school involves a host of new challenges that often lead to declines in students’ motivation and achievement. This study examined whether test anxiety contributes to the changes in academic self-concept, expectations of success, task values and achievement in the two core domains of mathematics and language arts among 478 students (247 girls, Mean ageT1 = 12.15) as they transition to secondary school. To evaluate the generalizability of the results to male and female students, gender differences were also examined. The results of path analyses revealed that for both genders, test anxiety played a mediational role in the changes in academic self-concept before and after the transition. In addition, test anxiety partially mediated the changes between prior and later expectations of success and achievement, but only for girls in mathematics. These findings highlight that students with lower levels of motivation and achievement at the end of elementary school, especially girls in the domain of mathematics, are more at risk to face a difficult transition to secondary school.