Aims: Focus on the achievement in the final exams is considered to be important and increased physiological pressure for success can lead to anxiety during the test. The present study was conducted aiming at investigating the effect of positive self talk on the amount of exam anxiety in nursing students.

Methods: This quasi-experimental study conducted on nursing students of Islamic Azad University of Yazd in 2011-12. Thirty students, who were arrived in 2008 and had three days break between their two exams, were selected using purposive cluster sampling and divided into experimental and control groups. Data collection tools included a demographic questionnaire and test TAI anxiety questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS 18 software and Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon tests.

Results: The anxiety level in the experimental group was 43.4 ± 1.3 before the intervention and 44.2±1.6 in control group (p>0.05). This mean reached 31.6±3.5 after intervention in the experimental group and 47.8±2.3 in the control group (p <0.001). Mean difference of the anxiety score in the experimental group before and after the intervention was significant (p<0.001) however, it wasn’t significant in the control group (p>0.05).

Conclusion: application of positive self talk method can reduce the students’ test anxiety.