Background: university life is defined by the multiple demands that students face. Exams are events of great concern that can trigger harmful stress responses. The perception of self-efficacy to achieve goals has a modulating effect on cognitive, emotional and behavioral processes. Objective: to analyze the relationship and influence between stress coping self-efficacy, cognitive test anxiety and physical and psychoemotional stress symptomatology in university students in a pandemic context. Method: cross-sectional descriptive-correlational design. 314 university students participated (M = 23, SD = 6.05). Results: significant correlations were found between the variables examined. The proposed model showed that stress coping self-efficacy (efficacy and outcome) and cognitive test anxiety explain 39% physical and psychoemotional stress symptomatology variance. Conclusions: students presen...