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Jasmine Luu

Professor Sarah Prasad

English 2 Section 14

19 November 2020

Final Draft for MSE

Have you ever felt nervous or stressed about your future, getting everything done, or your

workload? This is a feeling many people with anxiety experience, especially students. ​Although

some may argue that anxiety is just a result of stress, it is actually a serious mental health issue

that affects many people, particularly college students. Anxiety is a result of stressful situations

and it can vary from person to person. It can also be a burden on college students and hinder their

academic performance. ​I believe that my essay is successful at explaining my argument for

the multiple source essay.

Even though​ some think that anxiety is a vast issue, some believe it is just a result of

stress and just a temporary problem. Anxiety is a very common condition, and there are many

different symptoms. Some of the different types of anxiety include; social anxiety, post-traumatic

stress disorder (PTSD), panic disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder. Anxiety does not

always impact academic performance, it depends on the type of anxiety the person is

experiencing. Everyone deals with anxiety in their own unique ways, so their natural reaction to

stress may not create a significant impact on their schoolwork or outside life. As I have learned

more about anxiety, I have become better at managing my stress when it comes to schoolwork.

There are a lot of ways to help mitigate it, such as self care. Having a well-balanced diet, getting

plenty of exercise, and avoiding caffeine are just a few things that can help reduce anxiety.
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Keeping in mind that there are many different ways to reduce anxiety, some people may argue

that anxiety is not a huge burden on students.

Another possible reason why some may think anxiety is not a huge problem is because

some may strive for perfectionism. Since I am always anxious about performing well in school, I

put in extra effort to keep my grades up. This makes me work harder to achieve success in my

classes. This is one way anxiety could be seen in somewhat of a good way. It can sometimes help

keep people more motivated to do well on assignments. If I didn’t have this fear of failure, I

definitely wouldn’t work as hard to succeed.

Even though​ some may not view perfectionism as an issue, I believe that anxiety harms

students in the perfectionist mindset. The ScienceDirect article, “When perfect is never good

enough: The predictive role of discrepancy on anxiety, time spent on academic tasks, and

psychological well-being in university students”, examines how perfectionist behaviors impact

university students. Perfectionism is related to anxiety because it stems from a fear of failure.

Although​ perfectionism does not impact work speed, students still “experience greater levels of

task-related and overall anxiety, and poorer psychological well-being” (Rassaby, et al). It takes a

toll on the mental health of university students, as seen when the article uses the words “poorer

psychological well-being”. I have always had anxiety but did not experience any intense effects

until I started college. With the stress of trying to make it into the Industrial Design Bachelor of

Science program my first year, I had experienced many setbacks because of my fear of failure.

With my sketching assignments, I would often redraw lines and create many underlays to make

my renderings as perfect as possible. This does tend to slow down my work speed, but this may

not be the case for every student.

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Anxiety’s impact on university students can be seen today in the Educational Leadership

article, “Taking the Stress Out of Grading: Now More than Ever, We Need to Take Steps to

Reduce Students’ Anxiety about Grading (While Improving Their Learning). Will We?”. This

article talks about how COVID-19 is affecting the mental health of many students. The

coronavirus has created a change in the learning environment which required swift adjusting to.

One form of anxiety is fear of failure, and Feldman states that “76 percent of students reported

that they always or often worry about the possibility of not doing well in school [and] 75 percent

of students reported that they always or often feel stressed by their schoolwork” (Feldman 15).

Many students feel stressed due to the grading system because it can make students feel like they

are being compared to their peers, or that their life depends on a letter or number grade. I

experienced this during my first semester of college, my teachers would grade us in front of the

whole class and made me feel like I was constantly being compared to my peers. Some solutions

that Feldman brings up that could be a solution to school stress are curving grades, using a 0-100

grading scale, grading participation, and allowing retakes. Allowing retakes was a point that

really stood out to me in Feldman’s list of ways to reduce stress. Grades are a large stressor for

college students because their GPA can impact their future jobs, so by allowing retakes,

“students with test anxiety, knowing a retake will be available reduces stress, which allows them

to perform better on the initial exam, thereby eliminating their need for a retake” (Feldman 20).

By allowing students to take practice tests or retakes, testing anxiety can be mitigated or even

eliminated. This makes students have a better understanding of how the test will be so they can

better prepare for the second round. My design teachers like to break up projects into smaller

parts or require a peer review before the final submission. I think that this suppresses my anxiety

because I know that I have enough time to get advice from my peers before being graded. I feel
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more comfortable because I can gain a better understanding of what is expected for my

assignments.

Besides just hurting students' grades, anxiety has other risk factors for students. College

students often do homework until very late at night, which is talked about in the article “Risk and

Protective Factors for Anxiety Impacting Academic Performance in Post-Secondary Students'' by

Konrad T. Linksys, Regan Russell, and Andrew Papadopoulos. Insufficient sleep is a common

issue for college students and this is linked to a “lower learning motivation, increased anxiety

and decreased academic performance, individually, include excessive alcohol consumption, low

levels of physical activity, consuming energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods, engaging in risky

sexual activities, feeling hopeless, and having perceptions of body dissatisfaction”(Lisnyj, et al

73). Not only does anxiety impact students in the classroom, but in everyday life as well.

Excessive alcohol consumption and consuming unhealthy foods can have a lasting impact on

one’s life and health. ​Even though​ anxiety can cause many issues for students, there are some

possible ways to help combat it. Decreasing anxiety can increase academic performance, which

can be done by “encouraging physical activity, having positive relationships, belonging to a

community, living with a family member or friend, feeling hope, having life satisfaction,

demonstrating effective time management skills, and recognizing one’s self-worth”(Lisnyj, et al

73). It is important to think about how others view and handle anxiety. Anxiety may have many

different risk factors for students, but there are many methods to help mitigate it. Some ways I

have learned to decrease anxiety is to reduce my caffeine consumption and increase sleep. Some

may argue that these impacts are not much of a burden because there are several ways students

can help suppress this problem.

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Anxiety impacts many people, not just university students. Everyone needs to understand

that this is an extremely important issue that affects how people function. There are many side

effects of anxiety, but there are also many methods to help combat anxiety, like exercise and

positive relationships. Whether you have anxiety or not, looking after mental health should be

normalized in society and people should understand how vital it is to how a person functions and

performs.