ABSTRACT

Background: Examination anxiety is usually a combination of reactions, which includes depression, excessive anxiety, inappropriate thinking. Examination anxiety is experienced by many students as they undergo the examination procedure.

Aim: To exploring the pattern and associated factors of exam anxiety among students of Private Medical College, Lahore, Pakistan

Methods: It was a cross sectional descriptive quantitative study. The participants enrolled after taking consents from all students, those studying in central park medical college Lahore. Pre- designed questionnaire was used to collect the data. The multiple rounds of data collection were done. The data was analyzed by SPSS 20. Statistical test like chi- square test was applied to obtain the required results.

Results: The results showed that the mean age of student was 22.14±2.44 years with range from 17-28 years and 165(55%) were females while 135(45%) were males. Symptoms relating to exam anxiety were such that about ¾ respondents felt increased heart beat during exams; more than 60% faced disrupted sleep patterns during exams, more than 55% respondent feared ofweight gain/loss and tachycardia during the examsThe results indicate that female students observed increased heartbeat 113(44.33%), disorder sleep patterns 119(39.67%), students those who were facing tachycardia (33%) and experience weight gain or loss during examination 93(31%) which were significantly different as compared with male students (as p-value <0.05).

Conclusion: This study indicates that pattern and associated factors of exam anxiety based on a Visual Analogue Scale students of a medical college and also highlights factors such as tachycardia, disrupted sleep patterns during the exams which contribute to Exam Anxiety.