Reduced Test Anxiety Among Medical Students in an Extremely Low-Stakes Examination

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Psychology
• Student Assessment

Background:

• Test anxiety negatively impacts medical students' academic performance.
• Medical educators are exploring low-stakes assessments to mitigate test anxiety.
• The effectiveness of low-stakes tests in reducing medical student anxiety remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the extent of medical student anxiety during an extremely low-stakes test.
• To assess emotional responses in a group-based clinical reasoning class setting.
• To compare anxiety levels before and after a low-stakes test.

Main Methods:

• A study involving 75 medical students.
• Emotional responses were measured using the Japanese version of the medical emotion scale.
• Anxiety levels were compared between clinical reasoning exercises and the low-stakes test.

Main Results:

• Self-reported anxiety decreased from 2.21 to 1.96 when transitioning to the test.
• No significant changes were observed in other emotional states.
• The low-stakes test format was associated with reduced test anxiety.

Conclusions:

• Extremely low-stakes testing formats can diminish test anxiety in medical students.
• This approach supports the efficacy of programmatic assessment for student well-being.
• Findings suggest low-stakes assessments are a viable strategy for managing student anxiety in medical education.