The best time to take a university oral exam is midday

The best time to sit a university oral exam is around midday. This was demonstrated by the results of an international study published in  Frontiers in Psychology. After examining more than one hundred thousand university exams, the researchers found that students tend to achieve their best marks in the middle of the day, while they are more likely to fail if the exam takes place before 9 a.m. or after 3 p.m.

“These results highlight how biological rhythms, often overlooked, can have a subtle yet significant impact on the outcome of crucial assessments,” explains Alessio Avenanti, Professor at the ‘Renzo Canestrari’ Department of Psychology at the University of Bologna, and senior co-author of the study.  “This is why it is important, both for students and lecturers, to pay attention to sleep patterns and to the scheduling of exams.”

According to the researchers, the drop in performance observed in the afternoon may reflect not only a decline in cognitive functions, but also increasing decision fatigue among professors. Early in the morning, by contrast, there may be a mismatch between the chronotype of students, who tend to be “night owls”, and that of examiners, who are often more “morning-oriented”.

The investigation, coordinated by researchers from the University of Messina, was based on the results of 104,552 oral exams taken by students between October 2018 and February 2020. The exams, conducted by 680 lecturers across 1,243 university courses, were analysed by accounting for their level of difficulty (measured through the number of associated university credits), so as to isolate the effect of the time of day on exam outcomes.

The findings show that exam performance peaks around 12 p.m. The likelihood of passing, instead, was significantly lower between 8 and 9 a.m. and between 3 and 4 p.m.

“The outcome of our analyses shows that exam results vary systematically over the course of the day, with a clear peak in the probability of success around midday,” confirms Carmelo Mario Vicario, Professor at the University of Messina and first author of the study. “Students are more likely to pass their exam in late morning than early in the morning or late in the afternoon.”

This phenomenon may be explained by the physiological rhythms that regulate cognitive abilities and mental fatigue. The period around midday is generally the moment when people tend to be most alert and focused. In the early afternoon, instead, attention levels and cognitive abilities often drop.

Similar patterns have already been observed in other fields—for example, in judicial settings, where judges tend to make more favourable decisions after breaks or at the start of a session. The researchers therefore suggest extending these types of investigations to other contexts, with the aim of finding organisational solutions that can ensure optimal outcomes in areas such as job interviews.

“We still do not fully understand the mechanisms behind this phenomenon, but our results suggest a series of actions that can help students perform at their best,” concludes Avenanti. “It is important to ensure an adequate amount of sleep, to take breaks to rest the mind before the exam, and to avoid scheduling exams at one’s personal low-performance times.”

The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology under the title “Timing matters! Academic assessment changes throughout the day”. From the University of Bologna, the authors include Chiara Lucifora from the Department of Philosophy and Alessio Avenanti from the ‘Renzo Canestrari’ Department of Psychology.