Stress levels and “immediate examination performance” of medical students

Introduction: The effects of stress are known to be multi faceted. Equally unpredictable are the results of examinations. Evaluation of performance of a person in examination depends on many factors. In present study, we attempted to find stress levels and their effect on examination performance of first year medical students. Material and methods: We asked the first year medical students to rate their perceived level of stress in percentage score from 0?100; 100 being the highest, along with other relevant data. We correlated this stress level and other factors with their marks in immediate examination, which was conducted in + 10 days of recording stress score. Results: It was found that stress levels higher than 40, suggestive of distress; lead to decrease in examination performance, as evidenced by decrease in marks in all types of examinations: viz. theory viva voce (oral), written theory examination and practical examination. Conclusion: We studied effect of stress on examination performance. We found that higher stress led to poor performance in examinations. (negative correlation) We found high levels of stress in 52% of participants, that affected their exam performance. Since they were not aware of relaxation techniques, we introduced the same to them.