51 exam-style questions on Mental toughness — topic C.1.2 of Sports psychology and motor learning in the IB Sports, Exercise and Health Science syllabus — with answers and explanations. Samples below; the full set is free with an account.
Jones and colleagues defined mental toughness largely by what a performer does when the competitive pressure is greatest. Which characteristic is central to that definition?
Answer: Remaining focused and in control under pressure
The definition centres on consistency of determination, focus and control when demands are high, not on training volume or on a single peak result, which is why mental toughness is judged across many pressured performances.
Two hurdlers are told that their next race will be televised. The hurdler with higher mental toughness is most likely to appraise the situation as which of the following?
Answer: A challenge that sharpens her focus
The challenge component describes reading a demanding situation as an opportunity to test oneself rather than as a danger; the appraisal, not the situation itself, is what separates the two hurdlers.
A rugby coach profiles the squad with a self-report mental toughness questionnaire on the Monday after every match. Which limitation of the instrument does this schedule expose most clearly?
Answer: Scores drift with the mood left by the most recent result
A dispositional measure should be broadly stable across a season, so a profile that moves with the last scoreline is tracking how the players feel about that result rather than a durable characteristic. Fixed, neutral testing points and behavioural evidence give a firmer profile.
A rugby coach wants to develop mental toughness in an under-18 squad across a season. Which approach is best supported by research on mental toughness?
Answer: Exposing players to graded pressure with support and feedback
Mental toughness is only partly dispositional: it develops when demanding situations are met with enough support to allow success and reflection, whereas sheltered training gives no experience of pressure and punishment mainly raises the fear of failing.
After losing a close 400 m final, a runner says the result was caused by the unusually strong headwind in her lane. Using Weiner's model, how is that attribution classified?
Answer: External, unstable and outside her control
Weiner classifies an attribution on three dimensions at once: the wind lies outside the runner, varies from race to race and cannot be altered by her. It is the dimensions rather than the wording of the excuse that decide what she expects next time.
After winning, a volleyball squad credits its own defensive work; after losing the return fixture, the same squad blames the officials. Which pattern of attribution does the squad show?
Answer: Internal after success and external after failure
The self-serving pattern protects the squad's self-esteem by claiming the win and deflecting the defeat; it keeps confidence high in the short term but blocks the reattribution to controllable causes that would improve the next performance.
That was 6 of 51 Mental toughness questions.
Practise all 51 freeOutlineAO2 · 1–4 marks
A brief account or summary: the main points in two or three sentences, no evaluation.
DistinguishAO2 · 1–4 marks
Make the difference clear for BOTH terms — a definition of one of them is only half an answer.
ExplainAO3 · 3–12 marks
Give reasons or causes: say what happens AND why, linking each step with 'because' or 'so that'.
51 Mental toughness questions — free with an account. Spaced repetition, streaks and full exam simulations included.
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