Comparison of the Variables, Emotional Intelligence and Coping Strategies, in Succeeding or Failing the University Entrance Exam

The purpose of the present study was to appraise the relation between emotional intelligence and coping strategies with success or failure in passing the University Entrance Exam. 195 students in their first term of freshman year at Tehran’s public universities and 199 applicants of University Entrance exam who had at least once taken the exam unsuccessfully in the past were selected through convenient sampling respectively as the success and failure groups in the study. All participants completed Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire and Coping Strategies. The success group scored better than the failure group on Optimism and Self-Actualization. They control their impulses better, enjoy from higher level of adjustment, and their overall emotional intelligence is higher than the failure group. The success group copes with stress better as the failure group uses coping strategies that are more emotion focused emotional and physical inhibition). Convergently, the findings indicated that there is a significant relation between language, high school’s grade point average, and level of income in success and failure groups. A significant correlation also was found between emotional intelligence and coping strategies.