Is Latency to Test Deadline a Predictor of Student Test Performance?

Abstract

When students are given a period or window of time to take an exam, is taking an exam earlier in the window (high latency to deadline) related to test scores? In Study 1, students (n = 236) were given windows of time to take online each of 13 quizzes and 4 exams. In Study 2, students (n = 251) similarly took 4 exams online within a test window. In both studies, latency to deadline was significantly correlated to exam score. Higher scoring students took the exam earlier in the test window. We explore possible explanations of these relationships and map out directions for further study.