IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecoedu/v90y2022ics0272775722000784.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The deleterious effects of fatigue on final exam performance

Author

Listed:
  • Glaser, Darrell J.
  • Insler, Michael A.

Abstract

We utilize an interrupted time series approach to identify the causal effects of a Sunday break on final exam performance. Five different class-year cohorts at the U.S. Naval Academy (USNA) comprise our panel dataset with over 19,000 exam grades from more than 5,000 students. Exam schedules vary exogenously across years, and first semester freshmen have no say in their course schedules nor can they reschedule their exams. We find consistent empirical evidence that a day-long break situated in the middle of a final exam period increases the average exam grade after the break. This occurs even after we control for idiosyncratic scheduling characteristics during the exam cycle, other timing-related variables, and both course and student-specific variables. In particular, the average final exam grade taken one day after a break is 20%–30% of a letter grade higher than exams taken one day prior to the break. We also estimate that each passing day of a final exam cycle decreases performance by approximately 10%–15% of a letter grade, and that morning exams exhibit a 20%–25% of a letter grade decline in performance, compared to the afternoon.

Suggested Citation

  • Glaser, Darrell J. & Insler, Michael A., 2022. "The deleterious effects of fatigue on final exam performance," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:90:y:2022:i:c:s0272775722000784
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2022.102305
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272775722000784
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econedurev.2022.102305?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Timothy M. Diette & Manu Raghav, 2018. "Do GPAs Differ Between Longer Classes and More Frequent Classes at Liberal Arts Colleges?," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 59(4), pages 519-527, June.
    2. Pope, Devin G. & Fillmore, Ian, 2015. "The impact of time between cognitive tasks on performance: Evidence from advanced placement exams," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 30-40.
    3. Scott E. Carrell & Richard L. Fullerton & James E. West, 2009. "Does Your Cohort Matter? Measuring Peer Effects in College Achievement," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(3), pages 439-464, July.
    4. Brady, Ryan R. & Insler, Michael A. & Rahman, Ahmed S., 2017. "Bad Company: Understanding negative peer effects in college achievement," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 144-168.
    5. Cotti, Chad & Gordanier, John & Ozturk, Orgul, 2018. "Class meeting frequency, start times, and academic performance," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 12-15.
    6. David S. Lyle, 2007. "Estimating and Interpreting Peer and Role Model Effects from Randomly Assigned Social Groups at West Point," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(2), pages 289-299, May.
    7. David S. Lyle, 2009. "The Effects of Peer Group Heterogeneity on the Production of Human Capital at West Point," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(4), pages 69-84, October.
    8. Goulas Sofoklis & Megalokonomou Rigissa, 2020. "Marathon, Hurdling, or Sprint? The Effects of Exam Scheduling on Academic Performance," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 20(2), pages 1-36, April.
    9. Lusher, Lester & Yasenov, Vasil & Luong, Phuc, 2019. "Does schedule irregularity affect productivity? Evidence from random assignment into college classes," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 115-128.
    10. Dills, Angela K. & Hernández-Julián, Rey, 2008. "Course scheduling and academic performance," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 646-654, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Insler, Michael & Rahman, Ahmed S. & Smith, Katherine, 2021. "Tracking the Herd with a Shotgun — Why Do Peers Influence College Major Selection?," IZA Discussion Papers 14412, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Lépine, Andrea & Estevan, Fernanda, 2021. "Do ability peer effects matter for academic and labor market outcomes?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    3. Yi Cao & Tao Zhou & Jian Gao, 2024. "Heterogeneous peer effects of college roommates on academic performance," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Brady, Ryan R. & Insler, Michael A. & Rahman, Ahmed S., 2017. "Bad Company: Understanding negative peer effects in college achievement," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 144-168.
    5. Dennis Epple & Richard Romano & Sinan Sarpça & Holger Sieg & Melanie Zaber, 2019. "Market power and price discrimination in the US market for higher education," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 50(1), pages 201-225, March.
    6. Epple, Dennis & Romano, Richard & Sarpça, Sinan & Sieg, Holger, 2017. "A general equilibrium analysis of state and private colleges and access to higher education in the U.S," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 164-178.
    7. Benjamin Elsner & Ingo E Isphording & Ulf Zölitz, 2021. "Achievement Rank Affects Performance and Major Choices in College [Gender, competitiveness, and socialization at a young age: evidence from a matrilineal and a patriarchal society]," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(640), pages 3182-3206.
    8. Oleg Poldin & Diliara Valeeva & Maria Yudkevich, 2016. "Which Peers Matter: How Social Ties Affect Peer-group Effects," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 57(4), pages 448-468, June.
    9. Fischer, Thomas & Rode, Johannes, 2020. "Classroom or pub - Where are persistent peer relationships between university students formed?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 474-493.
    10. Lauren Ratliff Santoro & Jonas B. Bunte, 2023. "What Did You Get? Peers, Information, and Student Exam Performance," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 64(3), pages 423-450, May.
    11. Kamei, Kenju & Ashworth, John, 2023. "Peer learning in teams and work performance: Evidence from a randomized field experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 413-432.
    12. Gregory Androushchak & Oleg Poldin & Maria Yudkevich, 2012. "Peer Effects in Exogenously Formed University Student Groups," HSE Working papers WP BRP 03/EDU/2012, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    13. Dennis Epple & Richard Romano & Sinan Sarpça & Holger Sieg, 2013. "The U.S. Market for Higher Education: A General Equilibrium Analysis of State and Private Colleges and Public Funding Policies," NBER Working Papers 19298, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Coveney, Max & Oosterveen, Matthijs, 2021. "What drives ability peer effects?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    15. Alexandra de Gendre & Nicolás Salamanca, 2020. "On the Mechanisms of Ability Peer Effects," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2020n19, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    16. Petra Thiemann, 2022. "The Persistent Effects of Short-Term Peer Groups on Performance: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Higher Education," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(2), pages 1131-1148, February.
    17. Liang Zhang & Shi Pu, 2017. "It takes two shining lights to brighten the room: peer effects with random roommate assignments," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(1), pages 3-21, January.
    18. Sofia Dokuka & Diliara Valeeva & Maria Yudkevich, 2015. "The Diffusion of Academic Achievements: Social Selection and Influence in Student Networks," HSE Working papers WP BRP 65/SOC/2015, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    19. Deng, Weiguang & Jiang, Shengjun & Li, Xue & Ye, Maoliang, 2024. "Peer effects in donations: Evidence from random assignment of college roommates," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 631-644.
    20. Oleg Poldin & Dilyara Valeeva & Maria Yudkevich, 2013. "How social ties affect peer-group effects: a case of university students," HSE Working papers WP BRP 15/SOC/2013, National Research University Higher School of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Grades; Scheduling; Academic performance; Human capital;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:90:y:2022:i:c:s0272775722000784. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/econedurev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.