Impact of Pre-Exam Anxiety on the Academic Performance of Final Year Medical Students

Abstract

Introduction: Exams are a relatively stressful period for all students, especially undergraduate medical students. Exams bring anxiety and stress for the students. Some students experience such high stress that it hinders their academic productivity and reduces their exam performance. The aim of this study is to assess the effects of pre-exam anxiety on the academic performance of medical students. Methods: Two hundred and twenty-five final year medical students completed Westside Test Anxiety (WTA) Scale one month before their exams. Grade Point Average (GPA) of these students was noted when the results were announced. Data was processed and analyzed using SPSS v 22.0Results: The mean anxiety score on WTA scale was 3.46 ± 0.87. All students (100%) who scored ≤ 2.50 GPA were highly-extremely highly anxious. In the 2.51-3.00 GPA group, 46% were highly-extremely highly anxious, 32% were moderately anxious, and 21% had low to normal anxiety. In the 3.01-3.50 GPA group, 30% were highly-extremely highly anxious, 30% were moderately anxious, and 39% had low to normal anxiety. In the 3.51-4.00 GPA group, 29% were highly-extremely highly anxious, 23% were moderately anxious, and 47% had low to normal anxiety. The correlation coefficient between GPA and test anxiety of students was -.314 which shows inverse relationship.Conclusion: Pre-exam anxiety and stress imparts negative effects on the exam performance of final year medical students. Poor academic performance was associated with high to extremely high pre-exam anxiety while high achievers had relatively lower anxiety levels.

Perceived Nexus Between Non-Invigilated Summative Assessment and Mental Health Difficulties: A Cross Sectional Studies

“…However, with alternative assessments, students were able to perform at their best-stress reduction, think critically-which resulted in high performance. These findings were illustrated in the qualitative data and confirm the work of Sohail et al (2020) which reported that stress has negative impact on the academic performance of students, but in contrast to the work of Dawood et al (2016), they found no relationship between test anxiety and academic performance. Despite either opinion, as future work skills are moving from task-orientation to critical and problem-solving orientation, assessment designs should be authentic and reflect current industry practices.…”