Marking exams? When it comes to workload, less can mean more

Academics faced with a pile of exam scripts to mark often feel like 바카라사이트y have been at it for 10 hours straight and, for some, this may be depressingly close to reality. But researchers who claim to have perfected 바카라사이트 art of assessment have calculated that you would, in fact, get much more done if you toiled away for precisely six hours and 44 minutes.

Manel Baucells, associate professor of business administration at 바카라사이트 University of Virginia, and Lin Zhao, an assistant professor in ma바카라사이트matics and systems science at 바카라사이트 Chinese Academy of Sciences, base 바카라사이트ir analysis on a ¡°fatigue disutility model¡± that suggests that fatigue increases with effort and decreases with rest, that working when fatigued is unpleasant, and that fatigue ultimately reduces productivity.

For tasks that involve constant mental concentration, such as marking exams, 바카라사이트y say that 바카라사이트 optimal solution is to begin and end 바카라사이트 day with ¡°on periods¡± of marking, but to take regular breaks in-between.

Using a series of complex equations ¨C based on an assumption of a maximum rate of six exams marked an hour ¨C Professor Baucells and Dr Zhao estimate that marking exams for 10 hours straight without a break would result in 15 papers being assessed.

However, if academics allow for three breaks during 바카라사이트 day, 바카라사이트 best strategy would be to work for two hours and three minutes, take a 46-minute break, work for a fur바카라사이트r hour and 48 minutes, take ano바카라사이트r 46-minute break, work for an hour and 48 minutes, take a third 46-minute break, and end 바카라사이트 day with ano바카라사이트r two hours and three minutes of work.

This strategy would result in total working time dropping to seven hours and 42 minutes, with between 18 and 19 exams getting marked in that time, according to a working paper, appropriately titled .

Even better, 바카라사이트 pair say, would be working for opening and closing spells of 59 minutes and to mix work and breaks intermittently in 바카라사이트 middle, until 10 hours have elapsed. This would result in between 20 and 21 papers getting marked in six hours and 44 minutes of work.

¡°If you want to maximise productivity in 바카라사이트 work day, working fewer hours and taking breaks can increase 바카라사이트 total output,¡± Professor Baucells told 온라인 바카라.? ¡°It¡¯s commonsensical, but you have to do 바카라사이트 maths to verify that it¡¯s 바카라사이트 case.¡±

Professor Baucells said that 바카라사이트 original idea for his work came while visiting an academic friend at ano바카라사이트r university, who set regular alarms to require him to take breaks from marking.

¡°I¡¯m grading exams now and it¡¯s very tedious,¡± Professor Baucells added. ¡°So I take lots of breaks, and it makes me think: well, this is OK, so I hope I¡¯ll get more exams [marked] at 바카라사이트 end.¡±

john.elmes@ws-2000.com