Some people read really fast. Do you honestly think they should sit and look at their completed exam for an extra 10 minutes or so, just to be sure no one feels insecure about how long they are taking?
I'm a fast test taker and I usually score well above the class average. When I take an exam, I answer the ones I am 100% on and skip the ones that require more consideration. Then I go back through and take all the time necessary that I need to reach 100% certainty or as close to 100% as I will ever be. Then I read them all through one by one again to be certain I am still 100% as I bubble them in. Then I turn it in-- it just so happens that it is usually before most of my other classmates are done.
At no point during taking the exam do I think about what my other classmates are thinking of me or how impressed they'll be that I finished quickly. Nope. In fact, I don't think about my fellow classmates at all. I'm just focusing on the exam. I would never have imagined that anyone would be thinking about how long it takes me to finish my exam, until I read this thread. I'm sorry if I sound patronizing, but if being fast is important to you, maybe you should spend more time focusing on your exam and less time worrying who is done before you and just how long they actually took.
And what practical benefit is there to take exams quickly, anyway? Why would that be a point of pride? In our futures as dentists, it would be far more beneficial to be wicked fast at cutting preps, which I am not. I take every second available to me when I take lab practicals. With didactics exams, there is a right answer and once you've reached it, you move on. With lab practicals, it seems like there's always more to do, even if it's just more smoothing. I'm definitely at the back of the line for turning stuff in. I'm fully aware that some people have a better eye for it than I do, or are better at getting their hands to do exactly what they want, or maybe their standards are lower-- so what!!! When I'm actually a dentist, none of those people will be around and how long it took for me to complete a single one of my exams (lab or didactic) won't matter a bit.