Summary. Sarason's General and Test Anxiety Scales were administered to children of two English junior schools on three equally spaced occasions over a twelve‐month period. The 11+ examination was taken between the second and third testing occasions. The children of one school experienced streaming by ability throughout; those of the other school remained unstreamed until after the first testing. Although in some cases GA and TA scores yielded parallel findings, the two scales show some differential sensitivity. Differences in school regime and interactions with this factor were found to affect General Anxiety scores; whereas Test Anxiety scores showed different relationships with ability (streams) on different testing occasions. The approach of the 11+ examination maintained the level of anxiety against the usual downward trend found for repeated measurements of anxiety in the school which had not previously experienced a strongly competitive classroom atmosphere. The complexity yet meaningfulness of the interactions found suggests that there are dangers in assembling overall results concerning anxiety scales from different schools and different sexes, as has been done in several previous studies.

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