Abstract:

After the first Covid-19 case was observed in Turkey on March 11, 2020, a decision was made to close schools and distance education. Young people studying in high school during the Covid-19 pandemic process, on the one hand, try to adapt to the changes that the pandemic creates, while on the other hand, higher education institutions are preparing for the entry exam (YKS) and trying to manage the exam concerns that will affect their performance. There are two objectives of this work. The first objective is to investigate the factors affecting the exam concerns of students who will go to the university exam during the Covid-19 pandemic period. The second objective is to study whether the exam concerns of the participants change according to their cognitive flexibility and self-regulation skills. The work group consists of 420 (284 women, 131 men) participants. The age range of participants is 18-21 and the average age is 18.33. The number of participants is 298 (%71) 12. He is a class student, while 121 (28.8%) is a graduate. 89 (21.2%) participants are in private schools, 331 (78.8%) participants are in public schools. The research data was collected using the Demographic Information Form, the Spielberg Exam Anxiety Scale, the Adolescent Self-Regulation Skills Scale and the Cognitive Flexibility Scale. Research findings show that there are differences in the exam concern depending on gender, whether there is a separate room or not, the state of focus on the classes, the change in the income level of the family and the way of perception of the change in the exam dates. However, it has been found that there is no difference in the level of examination concerns according to the way the participants interpret the prohibition of entering the street, whether they are a final class student or graduate, whether they study in the public or private school. MANOVA results indicate that individuals with high levels of cognitive flexibility and self-regulating success have low exam anxiety scores. Cognitive flexibility and self-regulation plays an important role in managing the exam concern of individuals who will enter the university entrance exam. The findings of the research were discussed in the light of the area.

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