Includes curriculum vitae.

ABSTRACT :
Objective of the Study: The purpose of this study was to determine the academic anxiety level of fourth year BS Nursing Students in Olivarez College - Tagaytay.

Methodology: Descriptive research design was utilized to answer the research problems. Respondents of the study were 97 fourth year BS Nursing students of Olivarez College Tagaytay. Complete enumeration of senior students enrolled in Bachelor of Science in nursing program as of second semester, AY 2007-2008 was employed in this study. The Anxiety Scale test developed by Weinstein and Palmer (2002) from Learning
and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) was adapted for use to measure the level of academic anxiety of the respondents. The collected data were analyzed with the aid of the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) program. The frequency counts, range, percentage, and mean were utilized to answer the first and second research questions. In analyzing the relationship between gender and level of academic anxiety of
the respondents, the analysis of variance was used. Chi-square test was employed in analyzing the relationship between monthly family income and level of academic anxiety
of the respondents, and in analyzing the relationship between family connectedness and level of academic anxiety of the respondents.

Major Findings: Overall, the fourth year BS nursing students of Olivarez College-Tagaytay had Level II academic anxiety. This suggests that they had manageable anxiety level and
only need to consider improving their strategies in handling their academic anxiety. Gender had significant relationship on the level of academic anxiety of fourth year BS nursing students. Female nursing students had higher anxiety level than male nursing students. On the contrary, monthly family income and family connectedness did not have any significant relationship with the level of academic anxiety of senior nursing students.
This means that monthly family income and family connected had no significant effect on academic anxiety of senior nursing students.

Conclusions: 1.1 Senior nursing students of Olivarez College- Tagaytay are largely female. This is a pragmatic description of the gender distribution in nursing schools in Cavite.
1.2 Senior BS nursing students of Olivarez College-Tagaytay had an average monthly family income of more than Php22,000.This suggests that a family must earn more or less Php20,000 per month to be able to send their children to nursing schools in Cavite. 1.3 Senior BS nursing students of Olivarez College-Tagaytay perceived their family connectedness as "good". This indicates that most of them have positive relationship with their family. Overall, senior BS nursing students of Olivarez College-Tagaytay had Level Il academic anxiety. This suggests that, in general, senior nursing students had manageable anxiety level. They only need to consider improving their strategies in handling their academic anxiety.
3.1 Gender had significant relationship on the level of academic anxiety of fourth year BS nursing students. Female nursing students had higher anxiety level than male nursing students. This substantiates the earlier findings of Copeland (1998) and Rasor & Rasor (1998) that young women are twice as likely to report feeling pressured in their studies as young men. In addition, most female students link their self-worth or future with their grades. Female students may start doubting their capability or competency in their future careers. Some female college students have become so preoccupied by grades that they allowed their health to deteriorate.
3.2 Although finances can be a strain for a college student, findings of this study showed that monthly family income had no significant relationship on academic anxiety of nursing students. Hence, it could be concluded that nursing students was able to handle their financial constraint since it is a common reality for most Filipino families.
3.3 No significant relationship existed between family connectedness and level of academic anxiety of nursing students. This is in contrast with the findings
of Ross et al. (1997) and Beck and Srivastava (1997) that family support and structure are correlated with the anxiety level of students. These scholars found an association between family cohesion and lower anxiety level among children. They also reported that teenagers who feel they have good communication with their parents are less likely to experience high
level of anxiety.
Recommendations: The researchers recommend that students belonging to Level 1 and Level II academic anxiety should use some effective techniques in managing thoughts that prevent them from focusing on and successfully completing academic work. This may include using positive mental imagery, disputing negative and self-defeating thoughtwith more productive, realistic thoughts, and self-hypnosis. Muscle and breathing relaxation exercises could also be done to reduce too much tension and being emotional which are symptoms of anxiety.
Problems with the current study methods which create anxiety must be addressed. Students should refrain from last-minute cramming resulting in not knowing
answers to test questions or poor note-taking during lecture resulting in confusion about a major assignment. Students experiencing these signs of anxiety should work with a
study skills instructor or a counselor to identify the specific behaviors that cause problems and create a plan to reduce or change them. The suggested strategies for faculty members and clinical instructors that have been proven to minimize anxiety level of students are: setting well-defined and achievable goals to students; using highly structured lectures and supporting materials; providing supportive feedback early on in the course, and only later moving to evaluative feedback, allowing opportunities to practice a skill; providing time for students to talk any problems they are having; and serving as a role model. College administrators should include problem-solving or stress management trainings/seminars especially for those nursing students with high level of academic anxiety that emphasizes the use of cognitive components to deal with academic stress. Social support networks must be provided to students such as celebration of Foundation Week, special programs, advising, and counseling. Administrators must also encourage and plan leisure activities and social-recreational pursuits that increase the educational benefit from leisure pursuits to help students handle their academic anxiety. Future researchers should explore the other socio-economic variables that may have significant effect on college students' academic anxiety. Furthermore, any differences in life stress and academic experiences should be investigated to ascertain if an environmental difference could account for higher anxiety levels by gender, monthly family income and family connectedness. Use of experimental and longitudinal designs will improve the strength of the findings. There is also a need for replication on a more heterogeneous population and larger university/college setting so as to increase generalizations.