Increasing the time available during math tests can decrease the gender gap by as much as 40 percent. This is the conclusion reached by Vincenzo Galasso and Paola Profeta, both of the Bocconi Department of Social and Political Sciences, in a study published in The Economic Journal. The research results show that giving more time to complete math tests does not result in a lower quality of academic selection, as the correlation between test scores and university performance remains constant regardless of the time allotted to the test. But giving more time may promote greater gender equity in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects.

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