8: ACADEMIC SELF-EFFICACY AND TEST ANXIETY AMONG STUDENTS OF MEDICAL SCIENCES

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: A student's level of self-efficacy and test anxiety directly impacts their academic performance. The aim of study was to determine the relationship between academic self-efficacy and test anxiety among the students of the Qom medical sciences university. METHODS: In this descriptive and analytical study, 100 students of the Qom University of Medical Sciences were selected via random sampling methods. The students completed the test anxiety and academic self-efficacy Questionnaires. Logistic regression analysis and Pearson correlation coefficient were used for data analysis. RESULTS: The score of test anxiety of 48.2% of the students was more than the mean of test anxiety score. Results showed a negative and significant relationship between academic self-efficacy and test anxiety (r=0.21; p=0.04). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed self-efficacy predicts the test anxiety (OR=0.34, % 95 CI: 0.16–0.74). CONCLUSION: The findings of this study showed that the students with higher self-efficacy experience lower test anxiety. Therefore, the strengthening of this individual feature in students can lead to the better performance of students in the exam situation by decreasing of test anxiety