The time of the day in which an oral exam takes place can significantly influence its outcome, and between 9 and 15 the student is more likely to get by. This was stated by research conducted by scholars from the University of Messina and of the University of Bologna, in collaboration with the Leibniz Research Center for Working Environment and Human Factors (Dortmund, Germany). Analyzing over 100,000 university examsthe researchers discovered that students get better results in the middle of the day, while they are more likely to fail if the exam takes place before 9 or after 3 pm. Published in the frontiers magazine in Psychology, the study was coordinated by Carmelo Mario Vicarfull professor in cognitive neuropsychology and neuroscience and director of the cognitive and social neuroscience laboratory of the University of Messina. “We have shown that the results of the exams systematically vary throughout the day, with an evident peak in the probability of success around noon,” explained Vicar. “The students – he continues – are more likely to pass the exam in the late morning than in the early morning or late afternoon”.
It is an effect linked to biological rhythms. According to researchers, these results could be explained by physiological rhythms that regulate supervision and mental tiredness. Similar phenomena have already been observed in other areas, as in the courts, where the judges tend to make more favorable decisions after the breaks or at the beginning of the sessions. “We believe that this trend can also extend to other evaluation contexts, such as work interviews”, adds Vicar and it would be interesting to investigate whether even the hiring decisions vary according to the time of the day “.
The data come from the University of Messina and include 104,552 oral exams carried out between October 2018 and February 2020 from 680 teachers out of 1,243 courses. The exams, lasting 10-30 minutes, were analyzed taking into account their difficulty (measured through university credits), in order to isolate the effect of the time on the result. The results show a bell curve, with the higher overcoming rate around 12 am. The chances of success were significantly lower between 8 and between 15 and 16 while there were no significant differences between 11 and 13. “These results have very large implications”, says Alessio Avenanti, ordinary professor in neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience of the University of Bologna, co-author of the Senior. «They underline how biological rhythms, often neglected, can influence in a subtle but significant way the outcome of crucial assessments. The drop in performance in the afternoon could reflect a worsening of cognitive functions, but also a growing ‘fatigue fatigue by the teachers. Early in the morning, however, a misalignment between the student chronotype (generally ‘nightbulì) and that of the examiners (often more’ morning morning) could occur.
To reduce the effects of the time, the authors suggest avoiding the examination in their moments of “low performance”; guarantee adequate sleep; make mental breaks before important tests; rethink the programming of exams by universities, favoring the late morning for the most critical evaluations. “Even if we have checked the difficulty of the exams, we cannot completely exclude other factors such as the level of stress or sleep habits – concludes Massimo Mucciardi, associate professor of social statistics and senior co -author – and further studies are needed, also with physiological and behavioral measures, to clarify the mechanisms underlying this effect”.