Scholarly stress, Test anxiety and Academic performance among Makerere University Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of scholarly stress and test anxiety on the academic performance of university students, a case study of Makerere University, Kampala. The study was intended to achieve the following objectives; to findout the factors that influence stress and test anxiety among university students, to determine the effect of scholarly stress on the academic performance of university students, and to determine the relationship between test anxiety and academic performance of university students. The study used a sample of 123 respondents who were adopted using simple sampling technique. Data was collected using self-administered questionnaire and then analysed using Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) version 20.0. The results show that there is a statistically significant positive correlation of scholarly stress with test anxiety (r=-0.571, p<0.01). However, there is a statistically significant negative correlation of scholarly tress scores with academic performance scores (r=-0.641, p<0.01), implying that, as levels of scholarly stress increase, students` academic performance decreases. Results show that there is a statistically significant negative correlation of test anxiety with academic performance (r=0.471, p<0.01), implying that test anxiety increases, the academic performance among students at the Makerere University School of psychology decreases. There was also moderate performance of students as most of them (55.3%) were in second class lower division that ranges from a CGPA of 2.80-3.59. The findings suggest that university management should design appropriate psycho-educational interventions that would reduce test anxiety and scholarly stress and enhance academic performance. It is also important that guidance through academic advising and counseling programs should be activated in universities especially before examinations that may help to reduce test anxiety and thus improve the academic achievement of students.