In Italy, university students must pass oral exams to graduate, and a new study reveals that the time of day significantly affects success rates. Conducted by researchers at the University of Messina, the study analyzed 104,552 oral exams held between 2018 and 2020, across 1,243 courses and involving 680 examiners.
The findings, published in Frontiers in Psychology, show that the overall pass rate was just 57%, but the likelihood of passing followed a bell-shaped curve throughout the day. Pass rates peaked at noon, with similar success at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., while exams held early in the morning (8–9 a.m.) or late in the afternoon (3–4 p.m.) saw significantly lower success rates.
Researchers suggest that this pattern may be linked to circadian rhythms in cognitive performance. While human concentration typically improves in the late morning and declines in the afternoon, mismatches between students' and examiners' peak alertness—especially younger, night-owl students versus older, morning-oriented faculty—may further influence outcomes during early hours.
Beyond academic settings, the study's implications may extend to other decision-making contexts such as job interviews, emphasizing the potential importance of scheduling in performance evaluation.
Image Credit: Anna Shvets