Construction and Validation of “Abisus Scale”: A Tool for Assessing Examination Fear Among University Students

In this study, we aimed to construct and validate the "Abisus scale", a new tool for assessing exam fear among university students.A set of questions addressed the physical, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive symptoms of exam fear. The first draft of the questionnaire contained 12 questions. Following evaluation by a panel of experts, two questions were deleted, and the second draft included ten questions with a 5-point Likert scale as the scoring key. Following a pilot study, the questionnaire was administered to 115 students, and we discovered that removing the tenth question enhanced Cronbach's alpha. So, we omitted the tenth question and the alpha value increased from 0.781 to 0.811. All calculated coefficients (r) are greater than the critical value (.195), confirming the validity of the exam fear Scale. The developed scale was retested on the same students 6 months later, and the test-retest reliability was calculated using Cronbach's Alpha. The results showed that the exam fear scale is reliable, with Cronbach's Alpha values of.811 [first response] and.767 [second response]. The calculated coefficients (r) are greater than the critical value (.195), indicating the validity of the exam fear scale and demonstrating the consistency of the questionnaire over time.When compared the convergent validity with the established Spielberger Test Anxiety Inventory scale a pearson correlation of 0.56 was obtained indicating an acceptable level of correlation. The severity of exam fear is classified as low (20 or a lower raw score), medium (21-32 raw score), or high (33 or above raw score) using Z score calculation and interpretation. Exam fear was evaluated among participants, and 13% of students were in the low e, 71% in the medium, and 16% in the high exam fear categories respectively.The evolving demands of the modern education system necessitate the development of a novel exam fear scale to effectively assess exam fear among students in modern educational environments, with universities able to utilize the newly developed "Abisus scale" to create stress reduction programs accessible to all students.