Is Anxiety related to oral examination scores of Anatomy and Physiology? A study of pre-clinical MBBS and BDS Students.

OBJECTIVE

To assess anxiety levels among 1 and 2 year MBBS and 1 year BDS students in oral examinations of anatomy and physiology and to compare the anxiety scores among students of 1 and 2 year MBBS and 1 year BDS.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 231 undergraduate (MBBS and BDS) students of University from Karachi durning December 2022 to May 2023. Westside anxiety scale was used to assess anxiety levels in students and the scores were compared with oral examination scores using One-way analysis of variance.

RESULTS

Extremely high levels of anxiety was noted in relation to oral examination of Anatomy with a mean score of 25±3.801 while a mean of 30.00±5.170 was noted in Physiology in BDS students. However, significant results were observed on comparing Anatomy and Physiology oral examination scores among 1 and 2 year students.

CONCLUSION

In summary higher levels of test anxiety, especially for oral examinations was observed in MBBS students as compared to BDS students. It was also observed that anxiety levels were much higher for Anatomy oral examinations as compared to those for Physiology.