The correlation of lesson scheduling on exam performance among medical students: The case of Karaman
Abstract
Aim: To investigate the association between lecture timing and the academic performance of medical students using aggregated curriculum data.
Methods: This retrospective observational study was conducted at the Faculty of Medicine at Karamanoglu Mehmetbey University, covering the 2023–2025 academic years. The unit of analysis was aggregated lesson-level data (n=90 lessons across 29 committees). The primary independent variable was the percentage of lesson hours scheduled before noon (Lesson Schedule Distribution Before noon - LSDB), and the primary outcome was the mean theoretical exam score for each lesson. Statistical analysis was performed using Spearman correlation and non-parametric tests (Mann-Whitney U and Friedman) to examine the relationship between scheduling and performance.
Results: The overall mean exam score for the 2023–2025 period was 67.70±8.61, with a mean LSDB of 74.27%. A strong positive correlation was observed between the overall mean score and LSDB for both the 2023-2024 (r=0.729, p<0.05) and 2024-2025 (r=0.728, p<0.05) academic years. Grade-specific analyses consistently showed positive associations, with the strongest correlations found in the 1st (r=0.783) and 2nd grades (r=0.797) during the 2023-2024 period.
Conclusion: The findings suggest a significant positive association between morning-heavy schedules and higher mean exam scores in a medical education context. While these results highlight the importance of time-of-day effects in curriculum planning, the observational nature of the study precludes causal inferences.
Keywords
- Circadian rhythms
- medical education
- academic performance
- learning
- chronotype/morningness-eveningness
- time-of-day effects
- timetable/scheduling
Supporting Institution
Ethical Statement
References
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Details
Primary Language
English
Subjects
Medical Physiology (Other)
Journal Section
Research Article
Publication Date
June 16, 2026
Submission Date
December 31, 2025
Acceptance Date
March 2, 2026
Published in Issue
Year 2026 Volume: 6 Number: 2