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Exam experience and some reactions to exam stress

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the effects of previous exam experience on some psychophysiological reactions before, during and after repeated exams. A sample of 15 first year psychology students took part in the study. While the subjects were expecting a oral exam for the first time, their levels of exam apprehension, high activation and state anxiety were measured a day before, an hour before the exam and the following day. Furthermore, subjects’ cardiac R-R intervals were continuously recorded from five minutes before the exam to five minutes after the exam. Four, out of 15 subjects, passed the exams at first sitting, while the rest of them failed and had to repeat it. These 11 students underwent the same procedure for the second time. The levels of exam apprehension, high activation and anxiety did not show any differences between the first and the second exam sittings. R-R interval parameters indicated a higher stress before and after the second exam sitting, while the stress level was more or less the same during both exams.

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  1. University of Zadar Department of Psychology Krešimirova obala 2, Zadar, Croatia

    N. Šimić & I. Manenica

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  1. N. Šimić
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  2. I. Manenica
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Šimić, N., Manenica, I. Exam experience and some reactions to exam stress. Hum Physiol 38, 67–72 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0362119712010161

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