Passing rates for oral exams peak at noon, dip in morning and afternoon, study finds

To succeed at university, Italian students must take interview -style oral exams. Now scientists have discovered that the time for examination could be a critical factor influencing their success … or failure. Even when other factors were excluded, the chances of passing were the highest at lunchtime and the lower at the start or at the end of the day.

“We show that the results of the academic evaluation systematically vary through the day, with a clear peak in the rates of transit towards noon,” said Professor Carmelo Mario Vicario, director of the social neuroscience laboratory at the University of Messina and the main author of an article in Borders in psychology. “Students were more likely to spend at the end of the morning compared to the morning or at the end of the afternoon.”

“We believe that this model could extend to job interviews or any planned evaluation process throughout the day,” added Vicario. “We would be very interested in investigating the question of whether job decisions also fluctuate equity or results depending on the time of the day.”

Timing is everything

The researchers were inspired by works which showed that the judges were most likely to reign in favor of an accused after the reading breaks or at the start of a session. However, this could have been influenced by different types of cases presented at different times. Researchers have therefore examined the oral exams, which are more subjective than legal decisions. If the day of the day influences people’s judgment, large -scale data on the results of the exams should show evidence.

“Oral exams in Italian universities are planned during fixed hours, usually lasts 10 to 30 minutes per student,” said Vicario.

“There is no standardized format: the teachers ask questions according to the content of the course, and the notes are assigned on site. These examinations can be very stressful because of their unpredictable nature and the strong weight they have in academic progress.”

A database from the University of Messina allowed researchers to access the results of the exams carried out between October 2018 and February 2020.

The researchers collected the time, date and results of 104,552 assessments provided by 680 examiners for 1,243 courses. They also used the number of credits granted to a diploma per examination to measure the difficulty of individual examinations. This allowed them to exclude the difficulty of the examination as a factor and to carry out a statistical analysis evaluating the probability of passing according to the moment when the examination began.

Beat

The researchers found that only 57% of the exams had been made. The rate of passage followed a bell curve with a peak at noon: there was no significant difference in your chances of passing if you pass your exam at 11:00 am or 1:00 pm, but your chances of passing were lower if you passed the exam at 8:00 am or 9 a.m., or at 3:00 p.m. or 4:00 p.m. The chance to pass was equivalent early in the morning and at the end of the afternoon.

“These results have vast implications,” said Professor Alessio Avenanti at the University of Bologna, co-author of the study.

“They highlight how biological rhythms – often neglected in decision -making contexts – can subtly but significantly shape the result of high issues assessments.”

Although the study cannot identify the mechanisms behind this scheme, the peak of passes at noon conforms to the evidence that cognitive performance improves in the morning before decreasing in the afternoon. The drop in students’ energy levels could lead to a decreased orientation, compromising their performance. Professors could also suffer the fatigue of the decision, leading them to score harder.

Meanwhile, poor results earlier in the day could be due to competing chronotypes. People from the beginning of their twenties are generally night birds, while people in their forties or more tend to be morning larks. Students can be the least clear cognitive when teachers are the most alert.

“To counter the effects of the time of the day, students could benefit from strategies such as quality sleep insurance, to avoid planning important examinations during” low “personal periods and to take mental breaks before performance tasks,” suggested Vicario. “For institutions, the delay in morning sessions or the grouping of key evaluations at the end of the morning can improve results.”

But more research is necessary to fully understand the factors that contribute to the influence of the day on student performance and to develop means to improve the equity of assessments.

“Although we control the difficulty of exams, we cannot entirely exclude other unfilished factors,” said Professor Massimo Mucciardi from the University of Messina, principal author.

“We were unable to access detailed data at students or examiners such as sleep habits, stress or chronotype. This is why we encourage monitoring studies using physiological or behavioral measures to discover the underlying mechanisms.”