The Effect of Merit Score Towards the Stress Score Among First Year Student

The paper presents the result of the relationship between merit score and stress score among first year undergraduate students of the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences (FSKB) of session 2009/2010. A cross sectional study among students living in university residences, that is (College) Tun Syed Nasir, has been choosen using the stratified sampling. The merit score has been divided into three groups which is less than 30, between 31 to 59 and above 60. The stress score was modified from the the Inventory of College Students’ Recent Life Experience (ICSRLE). The study showed that the average stress score was moderate (44.42 ± 11.61). Furthermore, there was significant weak relationship between merit score and stress score (r = 0.187, p < 0.05). The comparison of stress score indicated that there was no significant difference between male and female students (p > 0.05). Moreover between bumiputra (indigenous) and non-bumiputra there was no significant mean differences of stress score (p > 0.05). One way analysis of variance showed that there was no difference of mean score merit between the stress score (p > 0.05). In conclusion, the study showed that the stress score was not influenced by merit score among first year undergraduates of FSKB for the academic session 2009/2010. However, the undergraduates of FSKB that achieved higher merit score do have a higher mean of stress score.