As acute stress related to testing impacts a majority of Gen Z students, Quizlet coins ‘examiety’ in collaboration with The Jed Foundation to address exam-related anxiety

SAN FRANCISCO – August 30, 2022 – A new U.S. survey examining Gen Z attitudes on test-taking and mental health shows that students consistently struggle with feelings of anxiety tied to tests and exams. In fact, 86% of respondents indicated they have experienced exam anxiety, with 76% saying they have experienced it in the past six months. To address the relatable stress students feel around test-taking, global learning platform Quizlet has coined the term ‘examiety’ to describe the physical and emotional reactions that interfere with a student’s ability to perform well on exams.

Quizlet commissioned a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. Gen Z students to gain further insight on the impact of anxiety, studying, and learning in a post-pandemic world. Key takeaways include:

• Examiety negatively affects other aspects of the school experience: 68% of students admit that the apprehension and anxiousness that comes with test taking negatively affects the social aspect of their school lives. Gen Z students feel that test anxiety leads to poor exam performance (29%), lower self-confidence (28%), and a lower tendency to ask teachers for help (12%).
• Students feel exam stress negatively impacts the future: Nearly half of respondents (42%) consistently worry that test anxiety will negatively impact their academic future.
• Boosting accessibility to mental health resources during exams is vital to academic success: Only 24% of respondents said they seek help from school counselors when they are feeling stress related to tests and studying. What’s more, 43% of Gen Z students never reach out to their community, classmates, or family to talk about school related stress and mental health.            

“Exam anxiety is real, especially having moved from high school to college with virtual learning and having to re-adjust to the experience of taking exams in person,” said Alexandra Berardelli, a sophomore at College of the Holy Cross. “Even when I’ve prepared and studied countless hours, my heart still beats out of my chest when entering the exam room. While I know I’m not alone in feeling this way, it’s not something I talk about with my friends or seek help to manage.”

To provide meaningful resources for students to address examiety, Quizlet and The Jed Foundation, a non-profit that protects emotional health and prevents suicide for teens and young adults, have developed the Examiety Resource Guide. This resource guide was crafted with input from trained clinicians and offers tips, insights and guidance to equip students with information to address and manage their exam-related anxiety.

“Giving a name to a feeling of anxiety can often help to take the power from it and enable healthy ways to address it,” said Dr. Laura Erickson-Scroth, Chief Medical Officer, The Jed Foundation. “We are seeing an overwhelming amount of students dealing with the stress of the past two years, compounded with the ongoing pressures of today’s education landscape. Through listening to Gen Z, we’ve learned the best way to support is to give them tools and resources to prioritize their mental health. In this case, it’s helping to identify triggers and manage the common and understandable anxiety associated with one aspect of the school experience.”

When it comes to the top stressors for students, schoolwork has a significant impact on their mental health. A prior survey commissioned by Quizlet reported nearly half of students found  final exams and end-of-semester grades as top sources of stress impacting their mental wellbeing, indicating a continued need for tools like Quizlet that facilitate personalized learning and help students confidently navigate their learning journey.

“As students across the country head back to school both in-person and online, we understand they are juggling an increasingly uncertain world, new pressures and competing priorities,” said Matt Glotzbach, Chief Executive Officer, Quizlet. “Quizlet helps students reach their full potential and our research shows that examiety is a major barrier preventing students from accomplishing their goals. By shining a light on examiety and providing a resource for students to better manage this specific source of anxiety, our aim is to support students’ mental health and wellbeing, and ultimately set them up to learn more efficiently and effectively.”

The survey exploring exam anxiety was fielded in July and August 2022, with a sample of 1,000 U.S. students between the ages of 18-25. For more information, please contact QuizletUS@allisonpr.com.

About Quizlet
Quizlet is a global learning platform that provides engaging study tools to help people practice and master whatever they are learning. Every month, over 60 million students, teachers and everyday people use Quizlet to study any subject imaginable for school, work or as part of their personal interests — including 2 in 3 high school students and 1 in 2 college students in the US. Combining cognitive science and machine learning, Quizlet guides students through adaptive study activities to confidently reach their learning goals. The company offers a combination of free and paid subscriptions for both students and teachers that enable further customization. Quizlet is headquartered in San Francisco, California and is backed by Icon Ventures, Union Square Ventures, Costanoa Ventures and General Atlantic. For more information, please visit www.quizlet.com.

About JED
JED is a nonprofit that protects emotional health and prevents suicide for our nation’s teens and young adults. JED partners with high schools and colleges to strengthen their mental health, substance misuse, and suicide prevention programs and systems. The organization equips teens and young adults with the skills and knowledge to help themselves and each other. JED encourages community awareness, understanding, and action for young adult mental health.

Connect with JED:  Email | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | LinkedIn  | Pinterest | TikTok

Media Contacts
Aleah Feuerborn
quizlet@allisonpr.com

Justin Barbo
Director, Public Relations, The Jed Foundation
justin@jedfoundation.org
914-844-4611

The 2022 College Confidence Index by GradGuard and College Pulse shows most college students and families are uninformed about tuition refund policies, while four in ten college students have considered withdrawing; common reasons for withdrawal include academic challenges, financial concerns, and health issues or physical injury.

Boston, MA (August 17, 2022) – New data published in the 2022 College Confidence Index by GradGuard and College Pulse reveals 83 percent of college students are completely, very or somewhat confident “they will earn enough money to make the cost of college worth it.” Parents of college students feel confident that a college education will allow their children to get a good job (63 percent) and that it is worth the investment (60 percent). And yet, only 36 percent of parents of college students say they feel confident they can pay for four years of their child’s college education.

At the same time, college students and their parents are uninformed about how withdrawing might impact them financially, specifically when it comes to their school’s tuition refund policy. Most college students (74 percent) and parents of college students (66 percent) report they are not at all or not too familiar with the tuition refund policy at their school. Meanwhile, four in ten students have considered withdrawing due to financial issues (35 percent), academic challenges (34 percent), health issues, illness or injury (12 percent) and family issues (8 percent). Eleven percent of students cited other reasons for potential withdrawal.

John Fees, Co-Founder and Managing Director of GradGuard, said, “It is critical to better understand the confidence of the nearly 20 million students and parent consumers have in making a substantial investment in education. This year’s report is a timely reminder for students and families, that college life is not risk-free and that they are smart to protect their investment like other large consumer purchases.”

College Pulse surveyed 1,500 current and prospective college students and 500 parents about their perceptions regarding the value, affordability, and viability of a college education. An overall Confidence Index of 46.1 out of 100 was determined using those criteria, signaling room for improvement within higher education to gain the confidence of consumers. Additional findings from the index include:

• Seventeen percent of all college students report knowing someone who withdrew from school due to health issues, illness or injury
• Students of color are more likely to say a college education is one of the most or very important factors for success including 73 percent of Hispanic/Latino students, 62 percent of Black students, and 58 percent of Asian students. In contrast, just 52 percent of white students say the same.
• Every day or nearly every day, a significant number of students are dealing with challenges to their personal wellbeing, such as feelings of anxiety or stress (48 percent), trouble sleeping (34 percent), and feelings of depression (29 percent)

Additionally, financial anxieties about affordability remain high and weigh most heavily on college students who rely on financial aid.

Six in ten (60 percent) college students say they are very or somewhat concerned about being able to pay for college. These concerns are particularly acute amongst students on financial aid, of whom 63 percent say they are concerned about their ability to afford college. This worry is shared by less than half (45 percent) of students not on financial aid.

“Consumer confidence indices already exist across several key industries providing economists, industry leaders, and the general public insight into the current and future conditions of vital sectors of our economy. Given the strong influence of higher education on the U.S. economy, we recognized the need for data on consumer confidence in the value and viability of a college education,” said Terren Klein, CEO and co-founder of College Pulse.

The full 2022 College Confidence Index by GradGuard and College Pulse can be downloaded free of cost on the College Pulse website.

About GradGuard
GradGuard is an authority on protecting students and families from the risks of college life. Trusted by a network of more than 400 participating colleges and universities, today GradGuard is the number one provider of tuition and renters insurance for college students. Since 2009, GradGuard has protected more than one million students at more than 1,200 unique institutions. For more information visit gradguard.com or follow GradGuard on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

About College Pulse
College Pulse is a survey research and analytics company dedicated to understanding the attitudes, preferences, and behaviors of today’s college students. College Pulse offers custom data-driven marketing and research solutions, utilizing its unique American College Student Panel™ that includes over 550,000 undergraduate college student respondents from more than 1,500 four-year colleges and universities in all 50 states.

For more information, visit collegepulse.com or College Pulse’s official Twitter account @CollegeInsights.

Media Contact
Natalie Tarangioli
ntarangioli@gradguard.com
650.302.5656

The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines, has announced an expansion of its robust portfolio of award and grant programs which will now give $1.3 million annually to outstanding members.

Beginning next year, Phi Kappa Phi will provide 50 awards at $1,000 each to undergraduate members through its new Pioneer Program. These awards are designed to encourage and reward undergraduate members for developing the research, engagement and leadership skills necessary to become a successful scholar. For ful­­l eligibility requirements, visit www.phikappaphi.org/pioneer.

The Mary Todd Sabbatical Award, named for former Society Executive Director, Dr. Mary Todd, will honor one faculty member with a $50,000 award to support a sabbatical year or similar reassignments of duties. For full eligibility requirements, visit www.phikappaphi.org/sabbatical.

In addition to the two new programs, the Society’s Dissertation Fellowship has increased its funding to provide 15 eligible members with $10,000 awards and it’s Love of Learning program will now fund 200 members with $1,000 each to help fund post-baccalaureate professional development.

“As we know, awards are what we do at Phi Kappa Phi.  These additional awards and funding are part of our ever-growing commitment to supporting academic excellence and service to others.  Thanks to our wonderful donors, we continue to grow these programs and funding level,” said Society Executive Director and CEO, Dr. Bradley R. Newcomer. “I look forward to seeing the impact these new awards have on our members and volunteers!”

Phi Kappa Phi’s award and grant programs distribute $1.3 million each year to outstanding members through study abroad grants, graduate and dissertation fellowships, funding for postbaccalaureate development, member and chapter awards, and grants for local, national and international literacy initiatives.

To learn more about the Society’s award and grant programs, please visit www.phikappaphi.org/awards.

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About Phi Kappa Phi
Founded in 1897, Phi Kappa Phi is the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines. Phi Kappa Phi inducts approximately 25,000 students, faculty, professional staff and alumni annually. The Society has chapters on more than 325 select colleges and universities in the United States, its territories and the Philippines. Membership is by invitation only to the top 10 percent of seniors and graduate students and 7.5 percent of juniors. Faculty, professional staff and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction also qualify. The Society’s mission is “To recognize and promote academic excellence in all fields of higher education and engage the community of scholars in service to others.” For more information, visit www.PhiKappaPhi.org.

Media Contact
Alyssa Papa
Communications Director
apapa@phikappaphi.org
(225) 923-7777