Test Anxiety amongst Medical and Nursing Students: An Exploratory Study

Test anxiety is an important indicator of student performance especially in nursing and medical students. The aim of the present research was to assess the prevalence of test anxiety in medical and nursing students while exploring causative factors, coping behaviour and the role of social derogation, cognitive obstruction and affective (tenseness) components of test anxiety in these students.

151 medical and 157 nursing students were evaluated using a semi-structured proforma that collected socio-demographic data as well as data with regard to causative factors and coping mechanisms in relation to test anxiety. The Friedben test anxiety scale (FTAS) with its three subscales that is social derogation, cognitive obstruction and tenseness were used to assess test anxiety in this group. Descriptive statistics and unpaired t test were used in the statistical analysis.

On assessing the prevalence of test anxiety, 16 (10.2%) students in the nursing group reported test anxiety compared with 25 (16.56%) in the medical student group. More female students existed in the nursing group. On comparing scores on the FTAS, it was noted that cognitive obstruction was a near significant factor of difference in text anxiety in both the groups, whereas scores on tenseness and social derogation was not significant.

Test anxiety is an important area in medical and nursing education, and future studies need to elucidate the variables that facilitate and alleviate it to plan effective and systematic interventions to reduce test anxiety.