Medical students' perception of test anxiety triggered by different assessment modalities

Objectives: Test anxiety is well known among medical students. However, little is known about test anxiety produced by different components of exam individually. This study aimed to stratify varying levels of test anxiety provoked by each exam modality and to explore the students perceptions about confounding factors. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was administered to medical students. The instrument contained four main themes; lifestyle, psychological and specific factors of information needs, learning styles, and perceived difficulty level of each assessment tool. Results: A highest test anxiety score of 5 was ranked for “not scheduling available time” and “insufficient exercise” by 28.8 and 28.3% students, respectively. For “irrational thoughts about exam” and “fear to fail”, a highest test anxiety score of 5 was scored by 28.8 and 25.7% students, respectively. The highest total anxiety score of 1255 was recorded for long case exam, followed by 975 for examiner-based objective structured clinical examination. Excessive course load and course not well covered by faculty were thought to be the main confounding factors. Conclusions: The examiner-based assessment modalities induced high test anxiety. Faculty is urged to cover core contents within stipulated time and to rigorously reform and update existing curricula to prepare relevant course material.