The main factors of exam-related stress - Research Paper Example

 The main factors of exam-related stress In order to study the effects of test anxiety, a group of 12 students (all Indians) was selected for a questionnaire. The test was structured in three main parts, out of which the first one was purely demographic, having the strict purpose of establishing the gender and the educational level but also the educational background of each of the interviewed students. In order for the test to have relevant results, three main categories were of interest, namely their gender and their current year of studies (the latter being relevant for their experience dealing with test anxiety). Privacy of identity was guaranteed to all 12 Student # gender College-level of studies 1 F First-year 2 F First-year 3 F Mid-level 4 F Mid-level 5 F Last year 6 F Last year 7 M First-year 8 M First-year 9 M Mid-level 10 M Mid-level 11 M Last year 12 M Last year As you can notice, the students were chosen in such a way that all proportions were respected. In addition, they were all pre-chosen from the same racial category (all students are from India). The second part of the questionnaire was designed to reveal possible causes of test anxiety among students. Consequently, the second part of the questionnaire referred to seemingly obvious anxiety factors, such as the amount of time dedicated to study for a particular test, different campus “gossip” and “rumors” regarding the difficulty of the test, the degree in which they are familiar with the teacher and the teacher’s techniques. In this part of the test, students were asked to rate the influence of those factors on their degree of anxiety before or during a test. Here are the four questions of the test; for convenience, in the demonstrative table below we will mark only the question’s number, but we will also keep the previous collected data as reference. “Please rate, on a scale from one to five, (1-lowest, 5-highest), the degree in which the following factors influence your test-related anxieties: Question 1: - your general degree of nervousness before or during a test. Question 2: -the amount of time dedicated to study for the test Question 3 -campus “gossip” and “rumors” regarding the difficulty of the test Question 4 -the degree in which you are familiarized with the teacher, his requests and his course matter STUDENT# gender LOS Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 1 F First year 5 5 4 4 2 F First year 4 5 4 5 3 F Mid-level 4 4 3 2 4 F Mid-level 2 5 4 2 5 F Final yr 2 4 2 3 6 F Final yr 1 4 3 2 7 M First year 4 5 4 5 8 M First year 5 5 4 2 9 M Mid-level 2 4 2 4 10 M Mid-level 3 3 3 2 11 M Final yr 1 4 2 3 12 M Final yr 1 4 1 3 Although none of the students admitted to be an emotive person, all of them stated that they do suffer, in some degree, of test anxiety. Form the synopsis above, one obvious statement can be formulated: the younger the student, the higher the degree of anxiety. In addition, girls seem to worry more than girls do. This is explainable from several points of view: first, we shouldn’t forget their socio-cultural background: even if girls tend, generally speaking, to worry more, their cultural background is a factor that we shouldn’t omit, as their culture tends to teach girls (and women in general) to obey more, to ask fewer questions, while men are more likely to try to prove themselves. It is also obvious the importance of experience in dealing with exams: first year students tend to fear everything, while last year ones are more relaxed, due to their previous experience. While all 12 students admit the importance of study, admitting that they are much more nervous if they don’t have a solid background (notice that only one student rated that factor with three, the rest of the figures are of four and five), it would seem that different rumors have a greater influence on girls than on boys, but even so, the results show that this is an important factor of stress among students. The last part of the questionnaire was designed to give the students the possibility to explain their own way of perceiving stress, as well as describing possible techniques of relieving the stress caused by exams. The first question addressed was: “Do you consider exam-related anxiety is a set-back or an impulse for you? Why?”; surprisingly, only two out of the twelve interviewed students clearly stated that stress has no good parts. The rest of the students consider that generally test anxiety could be used in their favor, as an impulse to study more. On the other hand, all twelve students say that they would wish to find a way to deal better with anxiety during the tests, as clearly affects their performance. The second question was “Do you have / use any techniques that help relieve the test anxiety?”. The answers to this question were amazingly resembling: students feel that they can relieve the stress either by study, either by going out with their friends, in order to have some fun. No actual technique was mentioned, not even by last-year students, although one answer mentioned the fact that a more open communication between them and the teacher could be very helpful. Questionnaire conclusions: Test anxiety affects most of the students, no matter their age or gender; the degree of stress, on the other hand, varies greatly, and, excepting the amount of time they have dedicated to study (which is the first and the most obvious anxiety factor), it is greatly related to the student’s experience. Unfortunately enough, students are not aware that there are several stress-relieving techniques they could use, and, moreover, nobody seems to have mentioned that to them. While pre-test anxiety can be used in the student’s advantage, the anxiety they feel during the test is nothing but a set-back, having a great deal of influence on the final grade, and, consequently, on the student’s self-esteem. Questionnaire: Part 1: 1. Please state your sex (M/F?) 2. What year of studies are you currently in? Part 2: “Please rate, on a scale from one to five, (1-lowest, 5-highest), the degree in which the following factors influence your test-related anxieties: Question 1: - your general degree of nervousness before or during a test. Question 2: -the amount of time dedicated to study for the test Question 3 -campus “gossip” and “rumors” regarding the difficulty of the test Question 4 -the degree in which you are familiarized with the teacher, his requests and his course matter Question 5 Do you consider yourself being a generally emotive person? Part 3 1. Do you consider exam-related anxiety is a set-back or an impulse for you? Why? 2. Do you have / use any techniques that help relieve the test anxiety? Recommendations Recommendation 1: Encouraging first year students to communicate more with their teachers As the researches point out, the ones that have to suffer the most because of test anxiety-related matters are the first year ones, mainly due to their general lack of experience, but also because they do not really know what to expect from the teachers and from the exam itself. My opinion is that a better informed student would have a lower level of test anxiety, so encouraging them to communicate more, to ask more questions and even teaching them how to find valid answers on their own would help them from two points of view: a more conscious way of reading (and, consequently, of studying) and a lower level of test anxiety. In the first part of the paper I’ve discussed the fact that students that are less prepared are the ones that are the most anxious; this is why encouraging them to be more aware of what they are actually studying could help them in being more acquainted with QIBIT teachers’ techniques and requirements, while acquiring a higher level of knowledge in the same time. Recommendation 2: Provide a mentor for the students that are obviously having problems because of test anxiety This mentor could be anyone, from a normal counselor helping him or her to get over his nervousness problem, to an older, more experienced, student or even a teacher. Exchanging opinions and getting advice without having to deal with a more psychological matter (remember that not all the students that are anxious are also unprepared for the test; for some of them, it is just a problem of excessive emotiveness) by yourself has proven to be very useful for most of the persons. Moreover, students could have the opportunity to talk freely with some (or one) of their teachers without the restraints a classroom presents, thus it would help them understand better that test are only normal evolutional phases in their career as students, and that the ones that are giving those tests are also human beings. This could actually be a very good way in relieving the stress before and during the exams for many QIBT students. Conclusions The main purpose of this report is to evaluate the way, but also the degree in which students are affected by test anxiety, and reveal the main factors of exam-related stress. According to the theoretical part, the first factor of stress is precisely the level in which the students have prepared themselves for the test. Another important factor is the experience: the questionnaire points out the fact that first year students are far more anxious than last year ones, mainly because they do not really know what to expect from the teacher and from the exam itself. On the other hand, most students admit the fact that this anxiety also acts as a stimulus; unfortunately enough, not for all of them. This is why one of the recommendations I’ve made was to provide the students some emotional help, through counseling, from other QIBT teachers or more experienced students, which would assume the position of a mentor. The other recommendation I’ve made is to encourage students (mostly first year ones) to communicate more with their teachers, in order to be more familiar with the course matter, the teachers themselves and the also with the general college requirements. List of recommendations: Recommendation 1: Encouraging first year students to communicate more with their teachers Recommendation 2: Provide a mentor for the students that are obviously having problems because of test anxiety Read More