Bizarre new study reveals students score low in exams if exam room ceilings are too high | Health
You did all the exam essentials—made notes, studied well in advance, slept well, and even revised three times before the exam. But still, you score lower than your expectations. Well, you might be surprised at the culprit at play here, something beyond your study habits. A new study from the University of South Australia and Deakin University uncovers a bizarre connection between academic performance and architecture. The study reveals how the design of a space can affect task performance. Students perform relatively poorly in their exams when they take them in large rooms with high ceilings.
High ceiling won’t let you break the glass ceiling
Researchers evaluated over 15,400 undergraduate students across eight years on different university campuses. They considered prior academic performance and student differences in socioeconomic status, age, sex, and year of examination for standardised analysis.
A virtual reality test (VR) supported the findings, where the participants were exposed to different rooms while environmental stimuli like noise and temperature were kept stable. Measures of heart rate, breathing, and sweating were taken to understand their anxiety levels. In these VR experiments, researchers observed that simply sitting in a larger room made it difficult to concentrate and complete difficult tasks. They applied these findings to real-life situations and obtained similar results.
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Large spaces are not made for exams
Large spaces feature a sense of openness in their design. They are made for large gatherings, and best suited for social activities such as exhibitions, events, theatre, and gymnasiums. But this, vastness in space affects cognitive performance, hampering focus and task performance. In Australia, India, and many other countries, university and school examinations are conducted in large halls to reduce logistical expenses.
The sheer size of the room, especially when it’s unfamiliar, is accentuated by its high ceiling. It can trigger anxiety, stress, and feelings of insignificance. These overwhelming emotions can be distracting. Secondly, large indoor spaces tend to be densely packed, accommodating more students than the space can hold. It leads to poor air circulation, disturbing physical and mental well-being. The researchers called for a re-evaluation of these spaces. Examination halls should be modified to ensure students perform their best, without any environmental distractions meddling in their academic performance.
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