Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

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

Hamza Sohail
ORCID logo ,
Syeda Maria Hassan
,
Basma Ali
,
Sana Irfan
,
Humza Faisal Siddiqui
,
Kanwal Bansari
,
Maham Noor Afroz
,
Zoha Batool
,
Faizan Shaukat
*
Version 1 : Received: 28 October 2020 / Approved: 30 October 2020 / Online: 30 October 2020 (15:49:21 CET)

How to cite: Sohail, H.; Hassan, S.M.; Ali, B.; Irfan, S.; Siddiqui, H.F.; Bansari, K.; Afroz, M.N.; Batool, Z.; Shaukat, F. Impact of Pre-Exam Anxiety on the Academic Performance of Final Year Medical Students. Preprints 2020, 2020100651. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202010.0651.v1 Sohail, H.; Hassan, S.M.; Ali, B.; Irfan, S.; Siddiqui, H.F.; Bansari, K.; Afroz, M.N.; Batool, Z.; Shaukat, F. Impact of Pre-Exam Anxiety on the Academic Performance of Final Year Medical Students. Preprints 2020, 2020100651. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202010.0651.v1

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.

Keywords

Pre-exam anxiety; Poor academic performance; GPA

Subject

Medicine and Pharmacology, Immunology and Allergy

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Download PDF

Comments (0)

We encourage comments and feedback from a broad range of readers. See criteria for comments and our Diversity statement.

Leave a public comment
Send a private comment to the author(s)
* All users must log in before leaving a comment
Views 0
Downloads 0
Comments 0
Metrics 0
Get PDF Cite Share 0
Bookmark BibSonomy Mendeley Reddit Delicious
×
Alerts
Notify me about updates to this article or when a peer-reviewed version is published.
We use cookies on our website to ensure you get the best experience.
Read more about our cookies here.