One might even argue that creating poorer memories and experiencing temporal pressure, thusly, can give a person the feeling that time goes by way too quickly.

–  Age, Personal Characteristics, and the Speed of Psychological Time

Four studies… find that positive (vs. negative) events feel shorter and farther away

– Time Will Fly During Future Fun (But Drag Until Then)

As the year comes to a close, many of us might look back and say the year flew by. Before we know it, the school holidays will begin. After that, many students might find that days are pleasurably slower. This sentiment may not be shared by those awaiting results. They may wish for time to pass faster.

We now know that how much time actually passes and how long we think has passed can be very different. The perception of time is at least as crucial if not more so than the actual passage of time when it comes to student performance.

Many interesting studies on time perception have been conducted. One example is if age determines how fast we think time is passing – does time pass slower in general for children and teenagers? Another example is if and how, impulsivity is related to the perception of time. Researchers have also tried to answer why time seems to fly when we are having fun. Before we get to some of the published findings, we can explore why and how time perception makes a difference in student performance.

Time perception matters in at least two ways. First, when a student begins a task, he needs to have a sense of how much time is available. There may be a tendency to overestimate or underestimate the time available at the beginning. This may affect optimal time allocation on different parts of or questions in a task.

Overestimation might result in having to rush towards the end. Underestimation might result in ‘careless’ mistakes.

Is there a recommended period of time to spend on specific components? A key principle is ‘as necessary’. This comes with experience. Other factors to consider would be the proportionality between marks and time allocated. Getting the proportion between time spent and marks allocated is not as straightforward as; more marks, more time. Getting the balance right might require an overall exam strategy based on an assessment of the challenge in relation to a student’s in-the-moment chances of getting past that challenge.

The other way time perception matters, is how fast or slow time seems to pass when engaged in a task.

If during an exam, time seems to pass slowly, there could be a number of reasons. The student is exceptionally calm and focused even if the questions are challenging. The exam is not challenging for the student. The student is not focused on the exam questions.

If during practice of a certain component or task type, time seems to pass too slowly, this could mean the student is not engaged in the task. Also, the student could begin to avoid the task because there is a sense of time dragging.

Student engagement turns on too many factors to enumerate and discuss in meaningful detail here.

Increasing engagement would mean less attention paid to time passing and more to task requirements. While there are ways to increase student engagement through graduated task requirements, pitching at “i + 1” (Krashen) level of difficulty and immediate feedback (Flow theory, Csikszentmihalyi), such ways are typically in essence conditions created externally.

We understand now that self-directed learning is important. Self-directed learning includes having a sense of how one is progressing and how to regulate challenge level for oneself. This means knowing how to break up something too challenging as a whole into smaller manageable components. It also means knowing how to increase complexity of a task which is not challenging enough.

Time perception also matters for overall life fulfilment. Tonietto et al. (2021) began their paper by recounting how one of the authors felt that time passed too slowly while she was anticipating her vacation and how the vacation itself ended too quickly. We are not unfamiliar with this experience.

Research shows that when one does not focus on the time, time will not appear to drag. During novel or otherwise engaging experiences, attention will not be on the time. Anyone who has experienced hypnosis would attest to how they lose all sense of time passing when thus engaged.

To be sure, while there are times, we would want time to pass quickly, there are also times we want it to appear to be passing slowly. For example, we do not want our lives to pass us by because we have been occupied with work. Emie et al. (2021) conducted research the following way. They asked subjects of different age groups how fast or slow, the day, week, month, year, three years, five years and ten years which had just passed felt. They found that except for “the past year” category, every other time period appeared to pass more slowly for adolescents. They also found that adults found that time passed more quickly compared to adolescents only when considering the ten years which had just passed.

Emie et al. (2021) explain that being able to recall many events in a given time period with great specificity would make it seem like time had passed slowly. When not many events or event details come to mind, it can seem like time had passed quickly. This has implications for writing among other activities.

They add that people who are agreeable and conscientious might find that time passed too quickly.

The first group may find that they never have enough time because they agree to every request and because they take it upon themselves to make everyone else comfortable, whilst not giving themselves any priority.

People who are conscientious work on a routine and give priority to responsibilities over themselves. They are usually very busy and so might find that time passes too quickly.

Ultimately, it would be great if we could control how time seems to pass. There are sayings about how good times fly and bad times seem like they will never end.

Could the issue perhaps be thinking about time in the first place? If the thing is given full attention regardless of its relative valence, it may be possible to be freed from the perception of time.

With focus, bad times like good times, grow wings and fly.

The Brain Dojo