It is proposed to move the start of the Unified State Exam two hours later – from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. State Duma deputy Alexander Aksenenko approached the Ministry of Education with this idea. Due to the early start of exams, the parliamentarian believes, graduates do not get enough sleep, especially if they live far from the exam venue. This ultimately affects their ability to concentrate and can prevent them from performing well. The expert notes that stress before the Unified State Exam can, in principle, interfere with sound sleep, so the day before it is better not to intensively repeat the materials, but, on the contrary, to have a good rest.
State Duma deputy Alexander Aksenenko (SR) addressed the Minister of Education Sergei Kravtsov with a proposal to start the Unified State Exam no earlier than 12 noon (the letter is in Kommersant’s possession). The current exam start time is 10:00 local time. It is uniform for the entire country, but sets of tasks are prepared separately for each time zone, so that more western regions do not have the opportunity to find out the answers and cheat. The Unified State Examination is written not at your school, but at specially equipped examination points (PPE). You need to get there early in order to go through document and security checks by 10 o’clock, and also get to the auditorium itself. They start letting you in at 9:00.
“On the day of the exam, many children get up at five or six in the morning in order to have time to get ready and get to the training center,” notes Mr. Aksenenko. “This is especially true for residents of rural areas and large cities, where the journey can take several hours. As a result, the child begins to take the exam already tired.”
Mr. Aksenenko refers to data from Rospotrebnadzor and points out that children aged 15–17 years need 8–9 hours of sleep, and during periods of intense mental activity it is recommended to increase this time by an hour. Exams should begin in the afternoon, the deputy believes, and the duration of the Unified State Exam (from 180 to 235 minutes depending on the subject) will allow the exam to be completed during the daytime, “without fundamentally violating the organizational logic,” he is sure. “This approach will reduce the stress associated with early rise and travel to the PES, and will also create more favorable conditions for an objective assessment of knowledge,” the parliamentarian concludes.
The Ministry of Education told Kommersant that they have not yet received the deputy’s appeal. The department did not answer questions about whether similar proposals were received from parents and experts and why exactly 10:00 was chosen as the time to start the Unified State Exam.
“Due to stress, graduates often cannot fall asleep well before the exam – and their sleep is shallow and restless,” notes Vladimir Sokolov, a psychiatrist, assistant at the Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology of the RUDN University. “Therefore, two extra hours may not play a decisive role.” At the same time, the expert notes that quality rest can really have a positive effect on cognitive abilities and improve exam results. Therefore, he advises not to burden children with preparation on the day before the exam, but, on the contrary, to give them time to relax. “Sometimes students can prepare for exams overnight during the session, but the Unified State Exam requires much more time – and therefore one day will not solve anything,” he concludes.
