The Effect of Background Music on Math Test Performance of High School Students

Abstract

There is often a general presumption that music and academics have a positive relationship. Researchers have investigated this relationship using a variety of subjects and testing many different variables. Since there was very little research done on the effect of background music on tests, I sought out to test if classical, rock, or rap background music has a positive effect on quiz scores. The experiment was done over four weeks with four Algebra II classes, two regular Algebra II classes and two accelerated Algebra II classes. To account for the four music types (classical, rap, rock, no music), and for the four quizzes over four weeks, a Latin Square design was used. When analyzing the results, a mixed effect linear model fit was used to accommodate absences, weeks, hours and music types. The data revealed that classical music had the most positive relationship with the quiz scores, even though most of the students confessed that they do not typically listen to classical music while doing their homework.