Does test anxiety and gender have an impact on OSCE Performance among medical students?

Abstract

Objective: to determine the association of test anxiety on OSCE performance of medical students in Taif Medical College. Study Design: The survey research design was used to conduct the research. Place and Duration of study: This was a comparative cross sectional study conducted on the 3rd, 4thand 5th year medical students in Taif Medical College of Taif University KSA. Materials & Methods: A ten item questionnaire developed by Nist and Diehl (1990) for determining mild or severe levels of TA experienced by students was used in the study. Results: A total of 518 students participated in the survey. The majority of the sample population was male 319 (61%) and 199 (39%) were females. Our results showed that a greater proportion (21%) of the male students, as compared to their counterparts, were in the group having high level of anxiety during test. It was observed that the 3rd year students performed poorly on TA and scored high on the scale. The difference observed in proportions was also statistically significant (Chi square 65.97, p value 0.000001). There was a significant negative correlation between the test anxiety and students performance in oral structured examination (OSCE). Pearson correlation coefficient of -0.45 and a p value < 0.0001 was observed. Conclusion: We conclude that test anxiety is experienced by a large number of undergraduate medical students of Taif Medical University. Anxiety has a negative effect on overall academic performance; female students were also more affected compared to their male counterparts. Key Words: Test anxiety, gender, medical students, academic performance