The best time to take an exam – and possibly to have a job interview
A university exam, a job interview. For such important life events, almost all of the attention is on the end results. Could when they take place also play a major role in the outcome? To find out, a team of researchers led by the University of Messina in Italy analysed over 100 000 oral exams taken by Italian university students between 2018 and 2020. They drew inspiration from previous research revealing that judges were more inclined to rule in favour of a defendant at the start of a session or after meal breaks. The findings were published in the journal ‘Frontiers in Psychology’(opens in new window).
Is timing everything?
The researchers gathered the date, time and result of more than 104 000 assessments delivered by 680 examiners for 1 200 courses. Students passed only 57 % of the exams. The pass rate peaked in the middle of the day. There was no major difference in the chance of passing an exam held at 11 a.m. or 1 p.m. However, the chances of passing were lower at 8 or 9 a.m. and at 3 or 4 p.m. “We show that academic assessment outcomes vary systematically across the day, with a clear peak in passing rates around midday,” commented lead author Carmelo Vicario, director of the Social-Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at the University of Messina, in a news article(opens in new window). “Students were more likely to pass in late morning compared to early morning or late afternoon.” “Oral exams in Italian universities are scheduled at set times, typically lasting 10 to 30 minutes per student,” explained Vicario. “There’s no standardized format: professors ask questions based on the course content, and grades are assigned on the spot. These exams can be highly stressful due to their unpredictable nature and the strong weight they carry in academic progression.” “These findings have wide-ranging implications,” commented co-author Alessio Avenanti, professor at the University of Bologna. “They highlight how biological rhythms — often overlooked in decision-making contexts — can subtly but significantly shape the outcome of high-stakes evaluations.”
Can profs and pupils meet halfway?
University students tend to be night owls. They are most alert in the evenings, which is when they usually do their best work. But this clashes with the traditional academic schedule. “To counteract time-of-day effects, students might benefit from strategies like ensuring quality sleep, avoiding scheduling important exams during personal ‘low’ periods, and taking mental breaks before performance tasks,” recommended Vicario. “For institutions, delaying morning sessions or clustering key assessments in the late morning may improve outcomes.” The researchers believe the findings could be also applied to the hiring process, helping to improve the chances of landing a desired job. “We believe this pattern could extend to job interviews or any evaluative process scheduled throughout the day,” concluded Vicario. “We would be very interested in investigating whether hiring decisions, too, fluctuate in fairness or outcome depending on time of day.”