A study involving more than 100,000 ratings shows that university students tend to have a higher success rate in oral exams when tested around noon.

Carmelo Vicario from the University of Messina in Italy began investigating this trend after noting similar findings in a prior research study on how jury decisions can be affected by meal times. “We aimed to explore if this phenomenon also extends to educational settings,” Vicario stated.

Along with his team, Vicario examined data from a public database, analyzing the results and timings of over 104,500 oral assessments from approximately 19,000 university students in Italy. These assessments took place from October 2018 to February 2020, starting with the 1243 course.

The researchers discovered an average pass rate of 54% at 8 AM, which increased to 72% by noon, before dropping to 51% by 4 PM. “We observed a remarkable bell-shaped distribution in our findings,” Vicario noted.

This trend was consistent across various types of oral assessments, including language examinations and research presentations. However, it’s uncertain whether this trend is applicable to written tests.

“Numerous external factors influence student performance,” according to Thomas Lancaster from Imperial College London. “Scheduling can make a difference—be it the time of day or even the intervals between exams.”

The reasons behind these variations are complex and often difficult to untangle. They could relate to natural patterns of sleep among students.

Research indicates that younger individuals often lean toward being night owls, which can misalign with the chronotypes of older examiners. The closest alignment tends to occur around noon.

During this time, there may be a balance between students who perform optimally and those who are more lenient with their grading. “As always, the best outcomes tend to find a middle ground,” Vicario shared, expressing hope that this research will inform universities in scheduling oral exams.

“Personally, I believe we should utilize this data to advocate that students avoid scheduling Vivas (oral defenses of their theses) or presentations before 10 AM,” Lancaster recommended.