Can light exercise before a test improve your score? Ten participants take exams in four subjects -- math, science, history, and geography. Each subject has two papers of equal difficulty.
On the first day, participants take Paper A with no exercise. The next day, they do 30 minutes of light activity like jogging or walking. After a 45-minute rest, they take Paper B.
Scores improve after exercising. Boys averaged 64.5% without exercise and 71.5% with it. Girls went from 69.5% to 75%.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis is that doing physical activity before taking an exam improves exam performance.
A quick workout before a test might boost your score. In one experiment, 10 boys and 10 girls take exams in four subjects: math, science, history, and geography. Each subject has two papers of equal difficulty. On the first day they take Paper A with no exercise. The next day, they do 30 minutes of light activity — jogging or walking — rest for 45 minutes, and then take Paper B. Scores improve after exercising. Boys averaged 64.5% without exercise and 71.5% with it. Girls went from 69.5% to 75%.
A controlled experiment changes one thing and keeps everything else the same. Here, the one change is whether participants exercise before the exam. Each subject has two papers of equal difficulty, so the only difference between test days is the 30 minutes of light activity — jogging or walking — before Paper B. Everything else stays constant: the subjects, the participants, the difficulty level.
Method & Materials
You will have 10 boys and 10 girls do some light exercise before taking an exam in four different subjects. Then, they will take the same exam without doing the exercise.
You will need two sets of exam papers of equal difficulty for each subject, a quiet examination room, a place to do exercise, and an assistant to help coordinate the physical exercise and examination.
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The results showed that the student examination performance was better after performing the physical exercise. Why do you think this was the case?
Why do this project?
This science project is interesting because it shows that physical activity can have a positive effect on academic performance.
Also Consider
Experiment variations to consider include having a longer time for the physical exercise and changing the rest period in between the physical activity and taking the examination.
Full project details
Additional information and source material for this project are available below.
These videos explain the science behind this project and demonstrate key concepts used in the experiment.
Did you know that exercise can actually help make our brain and memory better? It's pretty amazing! Check out this video to learn how exercise boosts blood flow to the brain, creates new nerve cells, and reduces the negative impact of stress on our brain health.
Watch this funny TED talk by neuroscience professor Wendy Suzuki to learn about how exercise can make your memory and brain better. Wendy tells her amazing story of why she started studying exercise and memory and shares really cool discoveries that you can use to improve your brain and remember things better. It's super interesting and fun to watch!
