Could simply viewing the letter “A” before a test help improve your test performance?

How the Letter A Improves Test Performance | Psych Central News

Could simply viewing the letter “A” before a test help improve your test performance? New research finds that not only does seeing the letter “A” before an exam improves students’ performance, but seeing the letter “F” makes a student more likely to fail.

“The letters A and F have significant meaning for students, A represents success and F, failure,” noted researchers Keith Ciani and Ken Sheldon at the University of Missouri.

“We hypothesized that if students are exposed to these letters prior to an academic test it could affect their performance through non-conscious motivation.”

A total of 131 students took part in three separate experiments. In the first, 23 undergraduates were asked to complete a number of analogies in a classroom setting. All of the tests were the same; however, half of the tests were labeled ‘Test Bank ID: A’, and the other half ‘Test Bank ID: F’. Before starting the test the participants were asked to write their Test Bank ID letter in the top right hand corner of each sheet.