Open AccessIntroduction: Exam stress is a set of responses that includes excessive worry, depression, nervousness and irrelevant thinking to a class of stimuli from an individual’s experience of assessment and outcome. The rationale of this study is to assess the examination related stress among the first year MBBS students by measuring BMI (body mass index) and VAS (Visual analogue scale) as to determine the factors contributing to exam stress among first year medical students.
Methods: The study was conducted over four weeks with 130 students in the month of March 2011. Questionnaire consisted of VAS to measure exam stress and 16 questions consisted of matters related to Academic factors, psychological problems, details of food intake and lack of physical activities. Body weight was measured before, during and after the exams to assess any weight loss due to exam stress.
Results: There is a significant moderate level of stress marked on VAS during the examination. Among different factors contributing to exam stress, academic factors (63%), lack of physical exercise (89%), Details of food intake (59%) and psychological problems (50%) were most important factors reported by the students. There was no significant change in BMI during the various phases of examination.
Conclusion: This study indicates that there is a significant moderate level of exam stress among the first year MBBS students based on VAS and it also highlights the various factors which can contribute to examination stress process.