New Study Proves That Asians are the Grandmasters of Math and Science

November 30, 2016

Five Asian countries dominated the young students’ global rankings for math and science, with Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Chinese Taipei, and Japan leading the rest of the world, a global study has revealed.

Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), an internationally recognized achievement test which takes place once every four years, was participated by more than 600,000 students aged 10 and 14 from around the world.

According to the results released by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) on Tuesday (Nov 29), both the primary 4 pupils and Secondary 2 students in Singapore placed first in the two subjects, the Telegraph reported.

Singaporean primary 4 pupils achieved the highest mean score of 618 in mathematics, while Hong Kong came in close second with a score of 615. The young Singaporeans also earned the highest score of 590 in science, slightly edging out South Korea which had 589.

Singapore’s secondary 2 students also ranked on top with scores of 621 and 597 for mathematics and science respectively. South Korea came in second for math, while Japan ranked number two for science.

The city-state’s Ministry of Education (MOE) said in a statement that the findings reveal that schools’ efforts to impart higher-order thinking skills to students, while providing programs catered to their learning needs have been effective, reported the Straits Times.

The United States scored an average of 476 and 500 in the 7th and 8th grade mathematics tests, respectively, tying with England for 23rd place in the 7th grade results, and ranking 28th in the 8th grade. In the science tests, the U.S. averaged scores of 508 and 534 for 7th and 8th grade, respectively, placing the American 7th graders in the 13th spot while 8th graders in the 17th among their peers.

Image via Flickr / Chia Ying Yang

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