The document discusses a study that examined whether eating breakfast impacts test scores. 300 college students were randomly assigned to a test group that took a test before breakfast, or a control group that took the test after breakfast. The test group scored significantly lower on average than the control group. Statistical analysis confirmed the difference in means was unlikely due to chance. The study concludes that eating breakfast prepares students mentally and allows them to perform better on tests compared to taking a test without breakfast. However, the study did not account for other potential influencing factors like sleep, age, or preparation time.

1. Running head: DOES EATING BREAKFAST INCREASE TEST
SCORES 1
DOES EATING BREAKFAST INCREASE TEST SCORES
11
Does Eating Breakfast Increase Test Scores
Sonja McDonald
Fayetteville State University
15 April 2016
BADM 530
Does Eating Breakfast Increase Test Scores
Executive summary
To perform better, students or learners have to be prepared well
so that they may give their best in the exams. Some of the
preparations that have to come in handy are to ensure that the
learners are well fed in the morning or the evening based on the
exam schedule. This makes them be concentrated on their
studies. Hunger or distractions form the stomach are likely to
make a person uncomfortable and nay hence nit perform to his
or her expected reach.
The study incorporated 300 participants who helped to get

2. insights on what it feels to be fully contented as you interact
with others. The study depicted that learners who took breakfast
in their setting do perform much better than the learners who
are not depended on the school
Introduction
Students have been found to perform differently in the test
when they are exposed to different conditions. These conditions
may be physical or mental. Thus good test scores are attributed
to the favorable physical or the psychological setting. For
example, students' performance in tests or exams has been
attributed to the psychological setting that prevails in the
student. Hence for one to be able to perform very well in class,
a psychological factor that has to be enhanced is the state of
satisfaction after eating. It is alleged that the comfort a student
obtains from eating food sets him or her ready to his brains to
have a better performance capacity. This means that a hungry
student is alleged to be stressful and that he or she may not
fully work well thus the outcome of the activity they are doing
will be of poor quality. There has been a trend that has been
under investigation on whether satisfaction in the stomach has a
relevant effect on the performance and thus the need to identify
whether it is a status of the psychology or it is a direct
influence on the brain functioning.
The research question
Does students who take breakfast increase their test scores?
The objectives of the study were to find out if there would
exists any difference between the test scores of the students
who took breakfast in the morning and the test scores for the
students who did not take breakfast.
This would guide us in making further recommendations to
parents, guardians and caretakers for students to make any
changes to the way their students are prepared before they sit
for their exams or attending their classes at large.
This research study employed an interdisciplinary approach to
study two groups of students, the test or study group and the
control group. We employed a sampling mechanism to collect

3. data from the study group that comprised of the students' group
that had a test before taking breakfast and the second group
(control group) taking breakfast while noting their different test
scores. In both cases, the control group will take their test after
taking breakfast.
The population group that I chose for this study is a group of
300 second year college students who lived in the college. In
this group 150 of the students were males and 150 were female.
All these participants were living in the college hostels and
were under a routine meal program at the college.
Research hypothesis
It is hypothesized that, students who take breakfast (B1)
increase test scores (m) than those who do not (B0).
That is, the mean score for mB1>mBo
Discipline: Psychology
Second discipline: Dieting
Definitions
Breakfast - this is the first meal of the day for anybody or any
animal, it is usually taken in the morning.
Test - Any standardized procedure for measuring sensitivity,
memory, intelligence, aptitude or personality or any procedure
that is standardized and used to measure intelligence, memory,
sensitivity, attitude or the personality of a person.
Score - a number or letter that is used to indicate the quality of
a person's or students' performance.
Methods
We identified three hundred names and randomly assigned them
into two groups of one hundred and fifty students in each group.
Each group had seventy-five boys and seventy-five girls. The
participants were assigned identification codes 001 to 300 to
ensure the maximum privacy of the students was achieved. The
test group was identified with codes N001 to 150 and the
control group members were identified with codes B151 to
B300.
The test group was put in the test room just before they went for
breakfast. The test comprised of 20 questions with a test

4. duration of thirty minutes. They were then allowed to have their
breakfast upon completion of the paper.
In the second group, the control group was given the same test
in the second test room immediately after their breakfast and
just before the first group (test group) was allowed to go and
have either breakfast. This allowed the test handlers to ensure
that the second group did not have any single chance to
understand the contents or rules of the paper which would
severely affect the authenticity of the results. Upon completion,
the test was marked and their results in entered in excel
software for analysis.
The limitations of this data collection procedure are that only
one factor was considered leaving out the possibilities that
other factors might compromise the findings based on the fact
that the study frequency, quality of sleep and the grooming
extent were not captured. This hence leaves out possible factors
that could play a pivotal role in the test scores irrespective of
whether an individual had breakfast or not.
The test scores of the two groups were analyzed and compared
in terms of the mean, median, mode, max, min, range, and
standard deviation. A comparative frequency table was also
established to give out a visual appearance of the statistical
metrics states above.
The results
The descriptive statistics summary of the control group was as
follows: the mean was 68.98667, the median was 70, the mode
was 71, the standard deviation was 9.678723, the range was 32,
the minimum was 52, and the maximum score was 84.
The descriptive statics summary of the test group was as
follows: the mean was 47.64, the median was 49, the mode was
52 standard deviation of 14.58706, the range was 51, the
minimum was 20, and the maximum score was 71.
The comparative descriptive statistics summary for the two
groups is as shown in the table below;
Description
No Breakfast

5. Breakfast
Mean
47.64
68.98667
Standard Error
1.191028
0.790264
Median
49
70
Mode
52
71
Standard Deviation
14.58706
9.678723
Sample Variance
212.7823
93.67767
Kurtosis
-1.05829
-1.1384
Skewness
-0.21456
-0.13289
Range
51
32
Minimum
20
52
Maximum
71

6. 84
Sum
7146
10348
Count
150
150
Confidence Level (95.0%)
2.353488
1.561573
This it can be identified that the mean for the test group was
way lower than that of the control group. The median for the
test group was lower than that of the control group too. The
trend was observed for the mode, the minimum value and the
maximum value.
The frequency distribution table for test scores of the test
group showed that the comparative frequency distribution table
below shows the different spread of the test scores:
The test group frequency distribution (no breakfast) and control
group frequency distribution (breakfast)
No Breakfast
Breakfast
Class
Frequency
Cumulative %
Frequency
Cumulative %
16-20
3
2.00%
0
0.00%
21-25
10

7. 8.67%
0
0.00%
26-30
12
16.67%
0
0.00%
31-35
12
24.67%
0
0.00%
36-40
14
34.00%
0
0.00%
41-45
14
43.33%
0
0.00%
46-50
14
52.67%
0
0.00%
51-55
19
65.33%
21
14.00%
56-60
17
76.67%

8. 15
24.00%
61-65
14
86.00%
19
36.67%
66-70
19
98.67%
21
50.67%
71-75
2
100.00%
27
68.67%
76-80
0
100.00%
25
85.33%
81-85
0
100.00%
22
100.00%
More
0
100.00%
0
100.00%
From the comparative frequency distribution table created, there
were no scores recorded for the test scores class 16-20 to 46-50
for the control group whereas 79 participants form the test

9. group had scores between 16-20 and 46-50. Looking at the top
test scores. The test group did not record any scores between
76-80 and 81-85 classes. On the other hand, 47 students from
the control group had test scores recorded in this category. This
data can be visually identified in the comparative bar chart as
shown
Testing the hypothesis
The research hypothesis stated as “students who take breakfast
(B1) increase test scores (m) that those who do not (B0)”.
That is, the mean score for mB1>mBo
A t-Test: Two-Sample Assuming Equal Variances was
conducted and the results of the test were as follows:
t-Test: Two-Sample Assuming Equal Variances
No Breakfast
Breakfast
Mean
47.64
68.98667
Variance
212.7823
93.67767
Observations
150
150
Pooled Variance
153.23
Hypothesized Mean Difference
0

10. df
298
t Stat
-14.9344
P(T<=t) one-tail
2.46E-38
t Critical one-tail
1.649983
P(T<=t) two-tail
4.92E-38
t Critical two-tail
1.967957
The P-value was 4.92E-38
In this case, the p-value was less than the alpha level of 0.05
and this means that the difference in the means of the two
groups happens by chance.
Conclusions
Based on the trend set out through the study by the results. I t
can be deduced that better performance was realized from the
control group. The participants in the test group performed
poorly indicating that they were not well prepared or settled in
their minds. For the control group, having breakfast signified
that they were all set in the minds as they concentrated more on
the test and hence performed better.
This hence opens the room to recommend that students or
learners would be woken up to well prepared and served
breakfast as this can aid in improved learning and concentration
Limitations of the study

11. The study did not consider the ages of the participants, younger
learners tend not to concentrate more on an empty stomach as
the older individuals would do. This hence leaves a lot of
loopholes in the study.
Areas of further study
Further research should be centered on finding out whether
preparing for an exam while taking breakfast or taking breakfast
without preparing for an example can affect the student test
scores.
References
In Bernal-Morales, B. (2018). Health and academic
achievement.
National Council for the Social Sciences (U.S.). (1988). Social
studies and the young learner. Washington, D.C.: National
Council for the Social Stud
Comparative Bar Chart
Frequency No Breakfast 16-20 21-25 26-30 31-35
36-40 41-45 46-50 51-55 56-60 61-65
66-70 71-75 76-80 81-85 More 3 10
12 12 14 14 14 19 17 14 19 2 0 0
0 Frequency Breakfast16-20 21-25 26-30
31-35 36-40 41-45 46-50 51-55 56-60
61-65 66-70 71-75 76-80 81-85 More
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 15 19 21 27
25 22 0 Cumulative % 16-20 21-25 26-30

12. 31-35 36-40 41-45 46-50 51-55 56-60
61-65 66-70 71-75 76-80 81-85 More
0.02 8.666666666666667E-2 0.16666666666666666
0.24666666666666667 0.34 0.43333333333333335
0.52666666666666662 0.65333333333333332
0.76666666666666672 0.86 0.98666666666666669 1
1 1 1
Running head: DOES EATING BREAKFAST INCREASE TEST
SCORES 1
DOES EATING BREAKFAST INCREASE TEST SCORES
11
Does Eating Breakfast Increase Test Scores
Sonja McDonald
Fayetteville State University
01 May15 April 2016
BADM 530
Does Eating Breakfast Increase Test Scores

13. Executive summary
To perform better, students or learners have to be prepared well
so that they may give their best in the exams. Some of the
preparations that have to come in handy are to ensure that the
learners are well fed in the morning or the evening based on the
exam schedule. This makes them be concentrated on their
studies. Hunger or distractions form the stomach are likely to
make a person uncomfortable and nay hence nit perform to his
or her expected reach.
The study incorporated 300 participants who helped to get
insights on what it feels to be fully contented as you interact
with others. The study depicted that learners who took breakfast
in their setting do perform much better than the learners who
are not depended on the school
Introduction
Students have been found to perform differently in the test
when they are exposed to different conditions. These conditions
may be physical or mental. Thus good test scores are attributed
to the favorable physical or the psychological setting. For
example, students' performance in tests or exams has been
attributed to the psychological setting that prevails in the
student. Hence for one to be able to perform very well in class,
a psychological factor that has to be enhanced is the state of
satisfaction after eating. It is alleged that the comfort a student
obtains from eating food sets him or her ready to his brains to
have a better performance capacity. This means that a hungry
student is alleged to be stressful and that he or she may not
fully work well thus the outcome of the activity they are doing
will be of poor quality. There has been a trend that has been
under investigation on whether satisfaction in the stomach has a
relevant effect on the performance and thus the need to identify
whether it is a status of the psychology or it is a direct
influence on the brain functioning.
The research question
Does students who take breakfast increase their test scores?
The objectives of the study were to find out if there would

14. exists any difference between the test scores of the students
who took breakfast in the morning and the test scores for the
students who did not take breakfast.
This would guide us in making further recommendations to
parents, guardians and caretakers for students to make any
changes to the way their students are prepared before they sit
for their exams or attending their classes at large.
Literature Review
Please do a literature survey by searching your keywords
through scholar.google.com and FSU’s online library .
Summarize relevant studies here and briefly state how your
study is similar to or different from each other.
Methodology
This research study employed an interdisciplinary approach to
study two groups of students, the test or study group and the
control group. We employed a sampling mechanism to collect
data from the study group that comprised of the students' group
that had a test before taking breakfast and the second group
(control group) taking breakfast while noting their different test
scores. In both cases, the control group will take their test after
taking breakfast.
The population group that I chose for this study is a group of
300 second year college students who lived in the college. In
this group 150 of the students were males and 150 were female.
All these participants were living in the college hostels and
were under a routine meal program at the college.
Research hypothesis
It is hypothesized that, students who take breakfast (B1)
increase test scores (m) than those who do not (B0).
That is, the mean score for mB1>mBo
Discipline: Psychology
Second discipline: Dieting
Definitions
Breakfast - this is the first meal of the day for anybody or any
animal, it is usually taken in the morning.
Test - Any standardized procedure for measuring sensitivity,

15. memory, intelligence, aptitude or personality or any procedure
that is standardized and used to measure intelligence, memory,
sensitivity, attitude or the personality of a person.
Score - a number or letter that is used to indicate the quality of
a person's or students' performance.
MethodsData Collection
You should provide more detail about data collection, where,
when, by whom, how, etc?
We identified three hundred names and randomly assigned them
into two groups of one hundred and fifty students in each group.
Each group had seventy-five boys and seventy-five girls. The
participants were assigned identification codes 001 to 300 to
ensure the maximum privacy of the students was achieved. The
test group was identified with codes N001 to 150 and the
control group members were identified with codes B151 to
B300.
The test group was put in the test room just before they went for
breakfast. The test comprised of 20 questions with a test
duration of thirty minutes. They were then allowed to have their
breakfast upon completion of the paper.
In the second group, the control group was given the same test
in the second test room immediately after their breakfast and
just before the first group (test group) was allowed to go and
have either breakfast. This allowed the test handlers to ensure
that the second group did not have any single chance to
understand the contents or rules of the paper which would
severely affect the authenticity of the results. Upon completion,
the test was marked and their results in entered in excel
software for analysis.
The limitations of this data collection procedure are that only
one factor was considered leaving out the possibilities that
other factors might compromise the findings based on the fact
that the study frequency, quality of sleep and the grooming
extent were not captured. This hence leaves out possible factors

16. that could play a pivotal role in the test scores irrespective of
whether an individual had breakfast or not.
The test scores of the two groups were analyzed and compared
in terms of the mean, median, mode, max, min, range, and
standard deviation. A comparative frequency table was also
established to give out a visual appearance of the statistical
metrics states above.
The Rresults
The descriptive statistics summary of the control group was as
follows: the mean was 68.98667, the median was 70, the mode
was 71, the standard deviation was 9.678723, the range was 32,
the minimum was 52, and the maximum score was 84.
The descriptive statics summary of the test group was as
follows: the mean was 47.64, the median was 49, the mode was
52 standard deviation of 14.58706, the range was 51, the
minimum was 20, and the maximum score was 71.
You can also provide box-whisker plot (5 number summary)
The comparative descriptive statistics summary for the two
groups is as shown in the Ttable 1 below;
Table 1: XXXXXXX
Description
No Breakfast
Breakfast
Mean
47.64
68.98667
Standard Error
1.191028
0.790264
Median
49
70
Mode

17. 52
71
Standard Deviation
14.58706
9.678723
Sample Variance
212.7823
93.67767
Kurtosis
-1.05829
-1.1384
Skewness
-0.21456
-0.13289
Range
51
32
Minimum
20
52
Maximum
71
84
Sum
7146
10348
Count
150
150
Confidence Level (95.0%)
2.353488
1.561573
Thuis, it can be identified that the mean for the test group was
way lower than that of the control group. The median for the
test group was lower than that of the control group too. The

18. trend was observed for the mode, the minimum value and the
maximum value.
The frequency distribution table for test scores of the test
group showed that the comparative frequency distribution table
below shows the different spread of the test scores:
The test group frequency distribution (no breakfast) and control
group frequency distribution (breakfast)
Table 2. XXXXX
No Breakfast
Breakfast
Class
Frequency
Cumulative %
Frequency
Cumulative %
16-20
3
2.00%
0
0.00%
21-25
10
8.67%
0
0.00%
26-30
12
16.67%
0
0.00%
31-35
12
24.67%
0
0.00%

19. 36-40
14
34.00%
0
0.00%
41-45
14
43.33%
0
0.00%
46-50
14
52.67%
0
0.00%
51-55
19
65.33%
21
14.00%
56-60
17
76.67%
15
24.00%
61-65
14
86.00%
19
36.67%
66-70
19
98.67%
21
50.67%
71-75

20. 2
100.00%
27
68.67%
76-80
0
100.00%
25
85.33%
81-85
0
100.00%
22
100.00%
More
0
100.00%
0
100.00%
From the comparative frequency distribution table created, there
were no scores recorded for the test scores class 16-20 to 46-50
for the control group whereas 79 participants form the test
group had scores between 16-20 and 46-50. Looking at the top
test scores. The test group did not record any scores between
76-80 and 81-85 classes. On the other hand, 47 students from
the control group had test scores recorded in this category. This
data can be visually identified in the comparative bar chart as
shown
Figure 1. XXXXXXXX
Testing the hypothesis
The research hypothesis stated as “students who take breakfast
(B1) increase test scores (m) that those who do not (B0)”.
That is, the mean score for mB1>mBo
A t-Test: Two-Sample Assuming Equal Variances was

21. conducted and the results of the test were as follows:
Table 3. XXXXX
t-Test: Two-Sample Assuming Equal Variances
No Breakfast
Breakfast
Mean
47.64
68.98667
Variance
212.7823
93.67767
Observations
150
150
Pooled Variance
153.23
Hypothesized Mean Difference
0
df
298
t Stat
-14.9344
P(T<=t) one-tail
2.46E-38
t Critical one-tail

22. 1.649983
P(T<=t) two-tail
4.92E-38
t Critical two-tail
1.967957
The P-value was 4.92E-38
In this caseAs presented in Tabl3 3, the p-value was less than
the alpha level of 0.05 and this means that the difference in the
means of the two groups happens by chance.
Conclusions
Based on the trend set out through the study by the results. I t
can be deduced that better performance was realized from the
control group. The participants in the test group performed
poorly indicating that they were not well prepared or settled in
their minds. For the control group, having breakfast signified
that they were all set in the minds as they concentrated more on
the test and hence performed better.
This hence opens the room to recommend that students or
learners would be woken up to well prepared and served
breakfast as this can aid in improved learning and concentration
Limitations of the study
The study did not consider the ages of the participants, younger
learners tend not to concentrate more on an empty stomach as
the older individuals would do. This hence leaves a lot of
loopholes in the study.
Areas of further study
Further research should be centered on finding out whether
preparing for an exam while taking breakfast or taking breakfast
without preparing for an example can affect the student test
scores.
Expanding dataset with
· Different age groups

23. · Different test subjects or standardized tests
· Different locations
· Other demographics
References
In Bernal-Morales, B. (2018). Health and academic
achievement.
National Council for the Social Sciences (U.S.). (1988). Social
studies and the young learner. Washington, D.C.: National
Council for the Social Study
You should have more references after completing the literature
review.
Comparative Bar Chart
Frequency No Breakfast 16-20 21-25 26-30 31-35
36-40 41-45 46-50 51-55 56-60 61-65
66-70 71-75 76-80 81-85 More 3 10
12 12 14 14 14 19 17 14 19 2 0 0
0 Frequency Breakfast16-20 21-25 26-30
31-35 36-40 41-45 46-50 51-55 56-60
61-65 66-70 71-75 76-80 81-85 More
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 15 19 21 27
25 22 0 Cumulative % 16-20 21-25 26-30
31-35 36-40 41-45 46-50 51-55 56-60
61-65 66-70 71-75 76-80 81-85 More

24. 0.02 8.666666666666667E-2 0.16666666666666666
0.24666666666666667 0.34 0.43333333333333335
0.52666666666666662 0.65333333333333332
0.76666666666666672 0.86 0.98666666666666669 1
1 1 1