High-Stakes nursing exams: boon or bane for student skills?
NCT ID NCT07656506
First seen Jun 25, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
This study looked at how stressful, high-stakes exams (where failing means disqualification) affect nursing students' stress levels and clinical skills compared to routine exams. 78 final-year students were split into two groups, one facing a critical CPR test and the other a standard one. Researchers measured stress, knowledge, and CPR performance to see which exam format works better for learning.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- What this could lead to
- If successful, this study could help design nursing exams that better balance stress and skill assessment, improving training without overwhelming students.
- What could go wrong
- This is a small, single-center study with 78 students, so results may not apply broadly. Stress and skill measures may not fully capture real-world performance.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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78 people
The number who actually took part.
- Started
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Jan 2024
- Finished
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Nov 2024
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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Children (under 18), adults (18 to 64) and older adults (65 and over)
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Accepted
You do not need to have the condition being studied to take part.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * The inclusion criteria included nursing students in their eighth semester who had given their consent to participate in the study Exclusion Criteria: * Exclusion criteria were nursing students who were unwilling to participate, absence in any of the intervention sessions, and those who, for reasons such as acute stress, did not have the necessary mental or psychological readiness to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills. Additionally, students taking medications that could attenuate the stress response (e.g., beta-blockers, central nervous system depressants) were also excluded.
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As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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Torbat Heydarieh university of Medical Sciences
Torbat Heydarieh, Iran
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