Mathematics anxiety in dealing math exams

Mathematics anxiety is one of the factors impacting the students' achievement. The current study aims at describing the mathematics anxiety of XI class students. This study emphasizes the mathematics anxiety in general and each indicator. This research is a qualitative study adapting the case study approach. The purposeful sampling has been used to select the subjects. The subjects of this study are 17 students of class XI Science in Senior High School 1 Puding Besar. Data have been collected through observations, interviews and questionnaires of mathematics anxiety. Students have been asked to fill out a questionnaire developed by the researcher. Three mathematics anxiety indicators have been considered including somatic, cognitive, and attitude in the context of math exams. The data analysis of the questionnaire findings showed that students generally experience mathematics anxiety at moderate level. The total percentage of mathematics anxiety is 29.4% at high level, 41.2% at moderate level, and 29.4% at low level. The results of interviewing the teachers showed that both students with high and low achievement could encounter light anxiety what could become an aspect that requires teacher's attention when preparing their students to carry out mathematics exams.