Economics of Education Review 48 (2015) 30-40 - The impact of time between cognitive tasks on performance

Sep 20, 2026

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Students often face multiple mental tasks in a short window, and their outcomes may depend on how tightly those tasks are scheduled. The study uses year-to-year changes in Advanced Placement (AP) exam timing in the United States as a natural experiment. Comparing students taking the same two AP exams across different years, it finds that more time between exams increases scores, especially on the second exam, with subgroup differences. The estimates indicate a 6–8% higher probability of passing both exams when they are 10 days apart versus 1 day.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

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Article history

Impact of time between cognitive tasks on performance

Research design and causal identification

Results: score gains and passing probabilities

Mechanisms and interpretation

Economics of Education Review 48 (2015) 30–40 | The impact of time between cognitive tasks on performance: Evidence from advanced placement exams
Devin G. Pope a,∗, Ian Fillmore b
a Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, United States b Economics Department of University of Chicago, United States | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | a r t i c l e i n f o | | a b s t r a c t | | | Article history:
Received 5 February 2013
Revised 10 April 2015
Accepted 20 April 2015
Available online 28 May 2015 | | Students are often required to perform several mental tasks in a short period of time, and their performance is likely to depend on how closely the tasks are scheduled. We examine this phenomenon in a particular context: Advanced Placement (AP) exams in the United States. We exploit variation in the AP exam schedule from year to year which results in a student who takes two exams in one year having more or less time between the exams than a student who takes the same two exams in a different year. We ﬁnd evidence that more time between exams results in higher scores, particularly on the second exam, and that this effect varies across different types of students. Our estimates suggest that a student taking two exams ten days apart is 6–8% more likely to pass them both than a student taking the same exams only one day apart.
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. | | | JEL: I20 D03
Keywords:
AP tests Cognitive fatigue | | | | In educational settings, students are often faced with many projects and tasks that demand their attention. These competing demands require them to make careful tradeoffs as to where they devote their time and energy, especially when they have two tasks scheduled close together. For physically demanding tasks, it is clear that the amount of time between them can signiﬁcantly affect performance—running two consecutive miles is much harder than running two miles with a rest period in between. In fact after some physical events, such as ultra-marathons, athletes need several weeks of recuperation before they can return to peak performance (Chambers, Noakes, Lambert, & Lambert, 1998). However, it is less clear how time between cognitive tasks will affect performance. For example, imagine a student who must take two diﬃcult exams a few days apart. Will her performance decrease because the exams are scheduled close together? Or is a one or two day separation enough to allow ∗ Corresponding author at 5807 S. Woodlawn Ave, Chicago, IL 60637, United States. Tel.: +1 773 702 2297. [E-mail address:](E-mail address: devin.pope@chicagobooth.edu)[ devin.pope@chicagobooth.edu](E-mail address: devin.pope@chicagobooth.edu) (D.G. Pope). the student to prepare properly and return to peak mental acuity? These questions are diﬃcult to answer with observational data because the scheduling of tasks is endogenous.1 A person who receives an assignment or volunteers to complete tasks that are scheduled close together may be very different from a person who does not. People may also organize their schedules to avoid having diﬃcult tasks scheduled close together. Selection bias in both the types of tasks and the people who complete them can result in misleading conclusions about the importance of time between tasks on performance. We identify the causal effect of time between cognitive tasks on performance by exploiting a novel natural experiment made possible by the timing of Advanced Placement (AP) exams. In May of each year, hundreds of thousands of high-school students in the United States take AP exams administered by the College Board. For most students, these exams are the culmination of a year of study in an AP course 1 These questions are diﬃcult to answer in laboratory settings as well since the experiment would necessarily have to run multiple days and require large incentives to motivate survey participants. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2015.04.002](http:

FAQs

How does the paper identify the causal effect of time between cognitive tasks on performance?

It exploits variation in the AP exam schedule across years, comparing students who take the same two exams in different years, which changes the number of days between their exams.

What is the main finding about longer time gaps between AP exams?

More days between exams lead to higher performance, with larger improvements in the second exam and about a 6–8% higher probability of passing both when the exams are 10 days apart rather than 1 day apart.

Do the effects differ across student subgroups?

Yes. The study reports stronger effects for some groups, such as females and Asians, than for others.

Sep 20, 2026

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