With midterm season upon us, I thought I would look into research surrounding the ways in which university students cope with the stress of writing exams, and what this could mean for outcomes. During my search, I found an interesting research article that explored the relationship between how students cope with their exam-related stress and what studying techniques they use. Moneta et al. (2007) hypothesized that individuals who used adaptive coping strategies, such as self-help/self-care (termed self-help), problem solving (termed approach), and accommodating for oneself in the face of stress (termed accommodation), would engage in studying that allowed for deep understanding and memorization of material. On the other hand, it was hypothesized that individuals who used maladaptive coping strategies, like self-punishment and avoidance of the stress, would engage in studying that was surface-level. The study then began to see if the way we university students cope with our stress surrounding exams, does have an impact on how we study. 

135 undergraduate students were recruited as participants, and as such they were provided with questionnaires to be completed 2 weeks prior to the final exam period. The questionnaires measured the approaches students used to study for their exams, the coping strategies they were currently using, their anxiety surrounding being evaluated, and their levels of self-efficacy. 

After analyzing their results, Moneta et al. (2007) found that every coping strategy was significantly correlated with at least 1 of the studying strategies. Specifically, the strategic studying approach was used more often by students who coped with self-help and approach techniques. The deep studying approach was used more by students that coped with approach techniques. Finally, the surface level strategy of studying was most used by students who used self-punishment to cope. These results suggest that the way students cope with their stress surrounding exam season, directly impacts how they then study for these exams. 

Research of this kind can be incredibly valuable for university students as it offers insight into how proper coping during exam season can lead to better studying, and therefore, more favourable results. Specifically, it appears that avoiding the use of punishing oneself and rather offering oneself compassion, seeking support, and using critical methods of problem solving, may allow for or promote the use of more effective study techniques. However, it is crucial to note that this study does not allow us to infer causation, in such a way we cannot say that a certain coping strategy causes a certain study technique. Nevertheless, the findings from this study do propose interesting insight into how these variables are related. 

Source:  Moneta, G. B., Spada, M. M. & Rost, F. M. (2007). Approaches to studying when preparing for final exams as a function of coping strategies. Personality and Individual Differences, 43, 191-202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2006.12.002