Optimizing Examination Scheduling Using Mathematical Optimization Techniques: An a Level Mathematical Investigation

This study explored the use of Mathematical optimization techniques in Examination Scheduling with emphasis on minimizing Cumulative Difficulty Burden (CDB) from consecutive examinations.After the difficulty level of the school subjects is assigned, the mathematical model is built with the help of Consecutive Subject Burden (CSB) function, which is the product of the difficulty level of two adjacent examinations. These products are summed over the examination timetable to give the total scheduling score.Five Cambridge A Level subjects are investigated and the results of the whole number of possible examination arrangements (120), that can be formed, are exhaustively analysed. In our specified model, at the baseline, the scheduling score is 59, and the minimum scheduling score is 45, which is a reduction of 23.73% in the predetermined burden of the model. This is the global minimum, which is reached by four different examination arrangements.This study illustrates the application of computational enumeration and mathematical modelling to effective systematic evaluation and decision making when considering timetables.This study shows how mathematical modelling and computational enumeration can be used as an aid to systematic timetable evaluation and decision making. It's meant to answer a specific set of questions based on a difficulty rating and set of assumptions of the model; the calculated improvement does not translate to any specific measure of reduced stress in students nor increased academic success.