Do you have a fear of public speaking? Do your palms sweat? Does your voice shake? Does your throat get dry? Is it hard to breath? Well you are not alone. Nearly every speaker (professional and novice) has experienced some degree of speech anxiety.

How nervous are you? Students often overestimate the amount of anxiety they feel or expect to feel when speaking in public. Fortunately, there are tools to help us assess our anxiety levels. We can use this information to then develop a plan to helps us become more confident speakers.

The self-assessment tool below is an easy way for you to determine where your level of anxiety places you when measured against the level reported by others. The assessment was developed by J.C. McCroskey (1970) and is considered to be a highly reliable (.94) and valid (r=.36) tool.

Your homework assignment is to access and complete the assessment here:

http://www.jamescmccroskey.com/measures/prpsa.htm