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Procrastinating and demotivated, 2 in 3 NCEA students cite anxiety or stress

<h2>Two-thirds of New Zealand secondary students identify stress and anxiety about assessments as a challenge to learning&comma; and about half believe they are not taught how to study or deal with exams&comma; according to a new survey of nearly 6000 students&period;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>The online survey of 5&comma;761 New Zealand secondary school students aged between 15 and 18&comma; by NCEA study platform StudyTime&comma; was conducted between August and October&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When asked to identify challenges to their learning&comma; 70 percent identified procrastination&sol;lack of motivation&semi; 66 per cent identified stress&sol;anxiety about assessments&semi; 53 percent identified learning how to consistently study&semi; 49 percent identified dealing with exams&sol;exam technique&comma; and 48 percent identified knowing how to study&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When asked to narrow this down to the most challenging aspect&comma; 24 percent of respondents identified procrastination and lack of motivation&semi; 21 percent identified stress&sol;anxiety about assessments&semi; 8 percent was knowing how to study&semi; 5 percent was learning how to consistently study&comma; and 5 percent was dealing with exams&sol;exam technique&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;presshustle&period;us9&period;list-manage&period;com&sol;track&sol;click&quest;u&equals;9f84a6586bb19d506e0a1dff4&amp&semi;id&equals;df04d97ac4&amp&semi;e&equals;cf1d7d12fc" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Read the full results&comma; including students comments&comma; here<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>StudyTime founder William Guzzo&comma; 26&comma; says the survey aimed to understand students’ views on their education&comma; the key issues they are facing&comma; and their ideas to resolve them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This survey suggests that students feel what they learn in the classroom doesn’t prepare them for their exams&comma; and they feel ill-equipped with the skills and resources required to study effectively and prepare for their exams independently&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>He says it was particularly concerning a majority of students feel anxious about assessments and exams &&num;8211&semi; and their education was not preparing them for their future&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;presshustle&period;us9&period;list-manage&period;com&sol;track&sol;click&quest;u&equals;9f84a6586bb19d506e0a1dff4&amp&semi;id&equals;09811efd98&amp&semi;e&equals;cf1d7d12fc" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Comments and explanations given by students<&sol;a> followed themes of&colon; not feeling prepared for life after secondary school&semi; not being well advised about university options&semi; being taught how to &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;earn credits&comma; not taught how to learn”&comma; and not feeling supported in issues of mental health or learning difficulties&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The data implies students feel their high school education is doing little to prepare them for their futures&comma;” says Guzzo&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Specifically&comma; students feel their learning experience fails to teach them &OpenCurlyQuote;learning skills’ and &OpenCurlyQuote;life-skills’ for after their secondary school education &&num;8211&semi; perhaps this partly explains students’ lack of motivation to engage in their learning&comma; and procrastination&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Perhaps the most worrying of all is the fact that so many students feel under supported for issues with mental health&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Participants were invited to the survey via Facebook targeted ads and of the students surveyed&comma; 78 percent were female&comma; 20 percent were male and 2 percent identified as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;other”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Participants came from Auckland &lpar;29&percnt;&rpar;&comma; Christchurch &lpar;13&percnt;&rpar;&comma; Wellington &lpar;12&percnt;&rpar;&comma; Hamilton &lpar;6&percnt;&rpar; and Palmerston North &lpar;5&percnt;&rpar; and were a range of students in NCEA Level 1 &lpar;27&percnt;&rpar;&comma; NCEA Level 2 &lpar;36&percnt;&rpar; and NCEA Level 3 &lpar;34&percnt;&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>From the sample&comma; 11 percent of students reported suffering from anxiety and 8 percent reported suffering from depression&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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