PREVALENCE OF TEST-ANXIETY AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT: FINDINGS FROM NURSING, PHYSICAL THERAPY, LABORATORY AND RADIOLOGY STUDENTS IN TAIF CITY, SAUDI ARABIA

Background: Test anxiety is most commonly associated with students taking informational tests at all levels of education and pupils with learning disabilities.Students often experience extreme tension and anxiety during tests, possibly as a result of pressure to perform well, among other variables as a result, test anxiety has become a prevalent problem throughout time.Test anxiety can develop as a result of a students fear of failing or performing poorly on the examination. Test anxiety is also caused by sporadic test preparation, high-stakes exams, and discomfort with the testing scenario. Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 449 students from both branches, male and female, from all departments of the college of applied medical science (nursing, laboratory, radiology and physiotherapy) in Taif citythrough the academic year of 2017-2018. It was aimed to evaluate the prevalence of test-anxiety among students from the four departments, to see is there a relationship between test anxiety and academic achievement of the students and are there differences between genders. Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI) scale have been used for measuring test anxiety. Results: The total prevalence of anxiety among students was (86.41%), it was (85.56%) for male students and (87.79%) for female students. The total anxiety prevalence of laboratory department was (88.50%), it was (88.90%) for male students, and (88.00%) for female students. The total anxiety prevalence of physical therapy department was (88.89%), it was (91.04%) for male students, and (86.00%) for female students. The total anxiety prevalence of nursing department was (83.19%), it was (80.95%) for male students, and (89.66%) for female students. The total anxiety prevalence of radiology department was (84.91%), it was (82.54%) for male students, and (88.37%) for female students. Conclusion: This study shows a high prevalence of test anxiety among our students comparing with other studies that showed less prevalence of such anxiety. According to that, more researches need to becarried out to elaborate the reasons beyond this high prevalence.