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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Educational Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1431707
This article is part of the Research Topic Psychological Well-Being and Digitalization in Education View all 20 articles

A psychological reaction of higher education students to the new national exit exam in the case of Dilla University, 2023

Provisionally accepted
Chalachew Kassaw Chalachew Kassaw 1*Valeriia Demareva Valeriia Demareva 2Samrawit Getu Samrawit Getu 3Misrak Negash Misrak Negash 3Selamawit Alemayehuel Tessema Selamawit Alemayehuel Tessema 4
  • 1 Department of Psychiatry, College of Health and Medical Science, Dilla University, Dilla, Ethiopia
  • 2 Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia
  • 3 Dilla University, Dilla, SNNPR, Ethiopia
  • 4 St. Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Test anxiety is an emotional state characterized by physiological and behavioral responses linked to the fear of poor exam results. performane. It can result in a significant impact in the ItIt can significantly affect the overall academic achievement of . students. Addressing the contributing factors of the problem is better to intervene in the academic challenges of students and creative a conducive learning environment. Thus, Thisthis study investigated the association between test anxiety and the newly implemented national exit exam program among prospective graduate students at Dilla University in 2023. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional design was employed, involving 357 participants recruited from August 15 to September 14, 2023. Data collection utilized structured questionnaires combined with interviews. The Westside Test Anxiety Inventory (WTAI) assessed test anxiety levels. Epi Info version 7 facilitated data entry, with subsequent analysis conducted using SPSS version 25. A p-value < 0.05 was used to determine statistical significance in the multivariate logistic regression model.The prevalence of test anxiety associated with the national exit exam among prospective graduates at Dilla University was 68.9% (95% CI: 63.9%-73.7%). The analysis identified significant associations between test anxiety and several factors: non-formal educational background of parents (AOR = 2.84, 95% CI: 2.12-4.65), moderate social support (AOR = 0.24, 95% CI: 0.12-0.46), and poor coping mechanisms (AOR = 3.67, 95% CI: 2.45-5.67).This study revealed a substantial prevalence of test anxiety among graduating students in relation to about the national exit exam. The findings suggest that factors such as limited social support and inadequate coping mechanisms contribute to test anxiety. Targeted interventions, including social support programs, counseling services, coping mechanism training, parental education, and support for students with lower academic performance, may be beneficial in mitigating test anxiety.

    Keywords: test anxiety, National exit exam, Higher Education Students, Prospective graduates, Dilla University, Ethiopia

    Received: 12 May 2024; Accepted: 04 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Kassaw, Demareva, Getu, Negash and Tessema. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Chalachew Kassaw, Department of Psychiatry, College of Health and Medical Science, Dilla University, Dilla, Ethiopia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.