Investigation on Relationship between Test Anxiety and Academic Performance of Nursing and Midwifery Students in Tabriz and Maragheh—Iran

Abstract

Background and Aim: Given the dramatic decline in the ability of test due to test anxiety, the goal of this study was to evaluate the relationship between test anxiety and academic performances in students. Materials and Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was performed on 216 Iranian nursing and midwifery students in 2011-2012, utilizing Sarason Anxiety Inventory, demographic checklist and the average mark of students in the period of midterm and final exam. Multinomial logistic regression analyses by reporting odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals were performed by SPSS17 software to assess the relationship between test anxiety and academic performances. Results: Mild, moderate and sever test anxiety was observed in 30.6, 43.1 and 26.4 percent of students respectively. Test anxiety was significantly related to academic performance (average), major and city. Also, there was 52.9% decrease for odds of having sever anxiety (compared to mild anxiety) with 1 point increase in average (OR = 0.471, 95% CI = (0.298-0.745) and p = 0.001). Conclusions: Due to inverse relationship between test anxiety and academic performance, performing preventive programs such as in time treatment of anxiety, empowering the students to deal with anxiety and conducting consulting services for how to studying are very important. Consequently it would be a big step in decreasing the test anxiety and therefore in improving the academic performance.

Enhancing OSCE preparedness with video exemplars in undergraduate nursing students. A mixed method study

“…Objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) are commonly included in health education curricula as they can be used to assess practical skill level and competency through simulation of a real world scenario, but in a mock clinical and examinable setting. Accordingly, OSCEs have been integrated into the curriculum for Bachelor of Nursing programs with other relevant forms of assessment, both internationally and within Australia (Alizadeh et al, 2014;Chiou-Rong & Ue-Lin, 2015;Jo & An, 2014;Mitchell, Henderson, Groves, Dalton, & Nulty, 2009;Setyonugroho, Kropmans, Kennedy, Stewart, & van Dalen, 2016).…”

“…One study suggested pre-registration nursing students' felt so stressed by the OSCE and this had a negative impact on their performance (Byrne & Smyth, (2007). While it is recognized that a small amount of stress can enhance performance; adoption of a highly stressful assessment strategy may be counter-productive (Alizadeh et al, 2014;Salehi, Cordero, & Sandi, 2010). Exam-related stress may in part be attributed to a lack of student understanding of, or unfamiliarity with the examination processes and exam requirements (Muldoon, Biesty, Smith, 2014).…”

“…It has been suggested that preparation, familiarization and 'exposure' to the OSCE may help students cope better (Brand, Schoonheim-Klein, 2009;Fidment, 2012). By clarifying examination requirements, expectations and processes, and a greater familiarity with the OSCE setting, this may help to decrease students' anxiety and stress, which may subsequently improve student performance and their ability to succeed (Alizadeh et al, 2014;Eldarir & Abd el Hamid, 2013;Johnston et al, 2016;Stunden, Halcomb, & Jefferies, 2015). This may also enhance student's engagement with the OSCE task, and correspondingly, clinical skill development, making it more meaningful and achievable.…”

Information Integration Cognitive Mechanisms Underlying the Face-to-Face or Online Statistics Test Anxiety Judgments of Engineering Students

“…Empirical evidence indicates an inverse correlation between test anxiety and academic performance in different knowledge domains, such as mathematics (Rana & Mahmood, 2010;Reyes & Castillo, 2015), medicine (Alizadeh et al, 2014;DordiNejad et al, 2011), nursing (Alizadeh et al, 2014;Shapiro, 2014), physics (Rana & Mahmood, 2010), education and languages (Trifoni & Shahini, 2011), statistics (Hunsley, 1985;Rana & Mahmood, 2010), and engineering (Vitasari et al, 2010).…”

Ansiedad ante los exámenes en estudiantes de enfermería de la ciudad de Guayaquil.

“…Las épocas de exámenes siempre han sido periodos llenos de estrés y preocupación para los estudiantes. La ansiedad que se genera se define como un conjunto de respuestas fenomenológicas, psicológicas, y conductuales que acompañan a preocupación por posibles consecuencias negativas o fracasos en un examen, o situaciones de evaluación similares (Alizadeh et al, 2014), este mismo autor, menciona que la ansiedad ante los exámenes es un tipo común de ansiedad por el desempeño que padecen entre el 10 y el 20 por ciento de los estudiantes.…”