Priming to Increase Test-Taking Effort Is Moderated By Gender: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial

Answering questions about intended effort prior to completing a test resulted in higher examinee self-reported effort and response-time effort for first-year college students. However, for upper-class students, only females were impacted by this strategy to promote good effort. Moreover, the effect was enhanced when the questions included positive self-identity prompts.