Correlation between morningness – eveningness and final school leaving exams

Abstract

Pupils shift their time of day preferences from morningness to eveningness during the age of puberty. Therefore, early school start times may have a negative influence on school functioning, adolescent health and on grade point average. Here, we show that morningness – eveningness influences school performance as measured by the final school leaving/university entrance certificate. One hundred and thirty-two university students aged between 20 and 22 years participated in our study. We found a highly significant positive correlation between the average grading of the final exam and the morningness score, suggesting that pupils with morning preferences performed better in school achievement. Evening types seem at a serious disadvantage because the final exams are used for university entrance decisions.

Keywords:

• Circadian rhythm
• morningness – eveningness (MEQ)
• school leaving exam
• school performance
• university entrance qualification

Acknowledgments

CR was supported by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) and by a grant from the University of Education. We are grateful to our students that participated in this study. DF carried out the survey and input the data. We highly appreciate the suggestions provided by an anonymous referee.