A Survey of Examination Phobia amongst Students at Secondary School Level

This paper focuses on exam phobia among students. Exam phobia is an irrational fear that leads to avoidance of the feared situation or object which in turn increases the severity of the phobia. The students having an excessive and unreasonable fear due to exam or the presence or anticipation of a horrible situation causes an anxiety. The sufferer realizes that the fear is irrational; and the avoidance or distress due to the stimuli causes impairment in functioning. Eleven (11) Districts (counties) of the province of the Punjab, Pakistan were taken through convenient sampling. Two public Secondary schools (one male and one female) were selected from each District from urban area randomly. Seventy students (35 students from Boys Secondary school and 35 from Girls Secondary school) of grade 9 from each District were selected randomly. The total sampling was 11×70=770 students. A questionnaire was developed to collect the data. Data was analyzed by using SPSS version 16.0. The intensity of exam phobia was found. A comparison was also made on gender bases by using t-test. The results showed that the students suffer from exam phobia to some extent. Furthermore the results revealed that the level of exam phobia in male and female students was same. Recommendations have been given on the basis of findings