Abstract: Medical education is very demanding and stressful. Medical undergraduates face social, emotional and physical problems due to stress which affect their learning ability, academic performance and patient care. When students look at their education as a challenge, stress can bring them a sense of competence and increased capacity to learn but when education is seen as a threat, such stress can elicit feelings of helplessness. Each year of medical education is characterized having unique stress. Hence, present study was undertaken to examine coping strategies of first and second year medical undergraduates and to suggest different methods to attenuate them. The prospective data was collected from first and second year medical undergraduates enrolled at MGM Medical College, Kamothe Navi Mumbai, by using prevalidated questionnaire. The questionnaire probed to find out emotional maturity , problem solving ability, guidance needed for the career planning, problems related to health due to stress, availability of nutritious food and time for grooming as well as coping strategies in various situations. Data analysis was done by using Likert scale (1-4 points) and results were tabulated in the form of percentage. The cause of stress observed among medical undergraduates was academic, financial as well as emotional and their coping strategies were poor. Hence it is suggested to take corrective measures at various levels like institutional level, students' level as well as parents should be concealed to develop and inculcate adaptive coping skills in medical undergraduates
