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Digest of Education Statistics
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Table 399. Average 8th-grade mathematics scores by content areas, and average time spent studying out of school, by country: 1999

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                            |          Average achievement scale score                    |     Distribution of daily out-of-school study time
                            |                                                             |      in mathematics, with mean mathematics scores
          Country           |_____________________________________________________________|__________________________________________________________
                            |Mathe-   |Fractions|         |         |Data repre-|         |                   |                  |
                            |matics   |and      |Geometry |Algebra  |sentation, |Measure- |No time            |Less than 1 hour  |1 hour or more
                            |overall  |number   |         |         |analysis   |ment     |___________________|__________________|___________________
                            |         |sense    |         |         |and prob-  |         |Percent |Mean      |Percent |Mean     |Percent |Mean
                            |         |         |         |         |ability    |         |        |score     |        |score    |        |score
____________________________|_________|_________|_________|_________|___________|_________|________|__________|________|_________|________|__________
             1              |    2    |    3    |    4    |    5    |    6      |    7    |    8   |    9     |   10   |    11   |    12  |    13
____________________________|_________|_________|_________|_________|___________|_________|________|__________|________|_________|________|__________
                            |         |         |         |         |           |         |        |          |        |         |        |
International average\1\ ...|487 (0.7)|487 (0.7)|487 (0.7)|487 (0.7)|  487 (0.7)|487 (0.7)|10 (0.1)|455  (1.7)|50 (0.2)|495 (0.8)|40 (0.2)|486  (0.9)
                            |_________|_________|_________|_________|___________|_________|________|__________|________|_________|________|__________
Australia ..................|525 (4.8)|519 (4.3)|497 (5.7)|520 (5.1)|  522 (6.3)|529 (4.9)|15 (1.0)|493  (6.3)|63 (1.1)|537 (5.0)|22 (1.0)|515  (6.3)
Belgium (Flemish) ..........|558 (3.3)|557 (3.1)|535 (4.1)|540 (4.6)|  544 (3.8)|549 (4.0)| 3 (0.8)|476 (21.8)|50 (1.0)|573 (3.8)|47 (1.2)|550  (3.1)
Bulgaria ...................|511 (5.8)|503 (6.6)|524 (5.9)|512 (5.1)|  493 (6.1)|497 (6.6)|12 (1.2)|494  (9.5)|45 (1.3)|516 (5.5)|43 (1.7)|521  (7.9)
Canada .....................|531 (2.5)|533 (2.5)|507 (4.7)|525 (2.4)|  521 (4.5)|521 (2.4)|11 (0.8)|527  (5.2)|61 (1.0)|542 (2.8)|28 (1.0)|510  (3.3)
Chile ......................|392 (4.4)|403 (4.9)|412 (5.4)|399 (4.3)|  429 (3.8)|412 (4.9)|17 (0.8)|384  (5.9)|54 (0.7)|400 (4.7)|29 (1.0)|394  (7.1)
                            |         |         |         |         |           |         |        |          |        |         |        |
Chinese Taipei .............|585 (4.0)|576 (4.2)|557 (5.8)|586 (4.4)|  559 (5.1)|566 (3.4)|31 (1.3)|529  (4.8)|44 (0.8)|604 (3.5)|25 (1.0)|627  (4.7)
Cyprus .....................|476 (1.8)|481 (3.0)|484 (4.6)|479 (1.6)|  472 (4.6)|471 (4.0)| 9 (0.6)|425  (7.2)|51 (1.1)|496 (2.7)|40 (1.1)|469  (2.4)
Czech Republic .............|520 (4.2)|507 (4.8)|513 (5.5)|514 (4.0)|  513 (5.9)|535 (5.0)|12 (1.0)|525  (9.2)|68 (1.3)|528 (4.6)|20 (1.1)|493  (5.2)
England ....................|496 (4.1)|497 (3.8)|471 (4.2)|498 (4.9)|  506 (8.0)|507 (3.8)|--- --- |---   --- |--- --- |---  --- |--- --- |---   ---
Finland ....................|520 (2.7)|531 (3.8)|494 (6.0)|498 (3.1)|  525 (3.8)|521 (4.7)| 7 (0.6)|506  (8.1)|85 (0.8)|525 (2.5)| 8 (0.7)|486  (6.8)
                            |         |         |         |         |           |         |        |          |        |         |        |
Hong Kong ..................|582 (4.3)|579 (4.5)|556 (4.9)|569 (4.5)|  547 (5.4)|567 (5.8)|25 (1.2)|552  (6.1)|51 (0.9)|591 (3.9)|24 (1.1)|600  (4.8)
Hungary ....................|532 (3.7)|526 (4.2)|489 (4.3)|536 (4.1)|  520 (5.9)|538 (3.5)| 4 (0.4)|497  (9.9)|71 (1.0)|540 (3.6)|25 (1.1)|514  (5.0)
Indonesia ..................|403 (4.9)|406 (4.1)|441 (5.1)|424 (5.7)|  423 (4.4)|395 (5.1)|10 (0.8)|396  (8.4)|38 (1.0)|405 (5.6)|51 (1.4)|406  (5.4)
Iran, Islamic Republic .....|422 (3.4)|437 (4.5)|447 (2.9)|434 (4.9)|  430 (6.0)|401 (4.7)| 3 (0.3)|375 (14.1)|22 (0.8)|425 (3.7)|75 (1.0)|427  (3.7)
Israel\2\ ..................|466 (3.9)|472 (4.4)|462 (5.4)|479 (4.5)|  468 (5.1)|457 (5.1)| 8 (0.6)|436 (11.3)|48 (1.1)|491 (4.2)|44 (1.4)|454  (4.3)
                            |         |         |         |         |           |         |        |          |        |         |        |
Italy ......................|479 (3.8)|471 (5.0)|482 (5.6)|481 (3.6)|  484 (4.5)|501 (5.0)| 5 (0.5)|400  (9.5)|39 (1.2)|488 (4.5)|57 (1.3)|482  (4.0)
Japan ......................|579 (1.7)|570 (2.6)|575 (5.1)|569 (3.3)|  555 (2.3)|558 (2.4)|26 (1.2)|558  (3.8)|54 (0.9)|586 (2.0)|20 (0.9)|585  (2.5)
Jordan .....................|428 (3.6)|432 (3.2)|449 (7.1)|439 (5.3)|  436 (7.8)|438 (4.4)| 8 (0.6)|374  (9.8)|33 (0.8)|441 (4.6)|60 (1.0)|445  (4.3)
Korea ......................|587 (2.0)|570 (2.7)|573 (3.9)|585 (2.7)|  576 (4.2)|571 (2.8)|34 (1.0)|560  (2.6)|45 (0.7)|598 (2.0)|21 (0.9)|610  (4.1)
Latvia (Latvian-speaking    |         |         |         |         |           |         |        |          |        |         |        |
 schools)\2\ ...............|505 (3.4)|496 (3.7)|522 (5.6)|499 (4.3)|  495 (4.8)|505 (3.5)| 3 (0.4)|480 (13.8)|58 (1.3)|516 (4.1)|40 (1.3)|493  (4.1)
                            |         |         |         |         |           |         |        |          |        |         |        |
Lithuania\2\ ...............|482 (4.3)|479 (4.3)|496 (5.8)|487 (3.7)|  493 (3.6)|467 (4.0)| 3 (0.5)|417 (15.8)|68 (1.4)|486 (4.4)|29 (1.3)|483  (5.3)
Macedonia, Republic of .....|447 (4.2)|437 (4.7)|460 (6.1)|465 (4.0)|  442 (6.2)|451 (5.2)| 6 (0.4)|429  (9.2)|49 (1.1)|461 (4.6)|45 (1.2)|448  (4.1)
Malaysia ...................|519 (4.4)|532 (4.7)|497 (4.4)|505 (4.8)|  491 (4.0)|514 (4.6)| 2 (0.2)|\3\   \3\ |28 (0.9)|523 (6.5)|71 (1.0)|519  (4.2)
Moldova ....................|469 (3.9)|465 (4.2)|481 (5.0)|477 (3.7)|  450 (5.7)|479 (4.9)| 8 (0.7)|452  (7.6)|48 (1.4)|476 (4.1)|44 (1.6)|473  (5.0)
Morocco ....................|337 (2.6)|335 (3.6)|407 (2.2)|353 (4.7)|  383 (3.5)|348 (3.5)|13 (0.9)|324  (8.0)|29 (0.9)|341 (6.6)|58 (1.5)|350  (3.2)
                            |         |         |         |         |           |         |        |          |        |         |        |
Netherlands ................|540 (7.1)|545 (7.1)|515 (5.5)|522 (7.7)|  538 (7.9)|538 (5.8)| 8 (1.1)|559 (14.0)|78 (1.3)|546 (6.7)|14 (1.5)|507 (12.2)
New Zealand ................|491 (5.2)|493 (5.0)|478 (4.2)|497 (4.7)|  497 (5.0)|496 (5.3)|14 (0.9)|444  (6.7)|66 (1.2)|507 (5.3)|20 (1.2)|480  (6.6)
Philippines ................|345 (6.0)|378 (6.3)|383 (3.4)|345 (5.8)|  406 (3.5)|355 (6.2)| 5 (0.4)|288 (13.2)|42 (0.8)|363 (6.2)|53 (0.8)|347  (6.7)
Romania ....................|472 (5.8)|458 (5.7)|487 (6.4)|481 (5.2)|  453 (4.7)|491 (4.9)| 9 (0.7)|417  (7.7)|25 (1.5)|457 (6.2)|66 (1.8)|494  (5.4)
Russian Federation .........|526 (5.9)|513 (6.4)|522 (6.0)|529 (4.9)|  501 (4.8)|527 (6.0)| 6 (0.5)|483 (10.0)|49 (1.3)|537 (6.7)|45 (1.5)|530  (5.2)
                            |         |         |         |         |           |         |        |          |        |         |        |
Singapore ..................|604 (6.3)|608 (5.6)|560 (6.7)|576 (6.2)|  562 (6.2)|599 (6.3)| 5 (0.5)|562 (10.7)|34 (1.0)|612 (7.6)|61 (1.1)|604  (5.7)
Slovak Republic ............|534 (4.0)|525 (4.8)|527 (7.3)|525 (4.6)|  521 (4.6)|537 (3.3)| 6 (0.6)|535  (8.3)|70 (0.8)|542 (3.9)|23 (0.9)|513  (4.7)
Slovenia ...................|530 (2.8)|527 (3.7)|506 (6.2)|525 (2.9)|  530 (4.2)|523 (3.7)| 8 (0.7)|530  (7.7)|63 (1.1)|541 (3.3)|29 (1.0)|511  (4.1)
South Africa ...............|275 (6.8)|300 (6.0)|335 (6.6)|293 (7.7)|  356 (3.8)|329 (4.8)|10 (0.8)|241 (14.1)|37 (0.7)|293 (8.6)|53 (1.1)|273  (7.9)
Thailand ...................|467 (5.1)|471 (5.3)|484 (4.4)|456 (4.9)|  476 (4.0)|463 (6.2)| 6 (0.4)|424  (5.6)|45 (1.1)|459 (5.8)|49 (1.2)|482  (5.8)
                            |         |         |         |         |           |         |        |          |        |         |        |
Tunisia ....................|448 (2.4)|443 (2.8)|484 (4.4)|455 (2.7)|  446 (5.1)|442 (3.1)| 7 (0.5)|439  (5.3)|27 (0.8)|452 (3.4)|66 (0.9)|450  (2.9)
Turkey .....................|429 (4.3)|430 (4.3)|428 (5.7)|432 (4.6)|  446 (3.3)|436 (6.5)| 6 (0.6)|398  (7.1)|41 (1.0)|422 (4.4)|52 (1.4)|448  (4.7)
United States ..............|502 (4.0)|509 (4.2)|473 (4.4)|506 (4.1)|  506 (5.2)|482 (3.9)|15 (1.1)|466  (4.8)|58 (0.7)|514 (4.0)|27 (1.1)|505  (4.5)
____________________________|_________|_________|_________|_________|___________|_________|________|__________|________|_________|________|__________

---Not available.
\1\Data are for 8th grade or equivalent in most countries.
\2\Countries not meeting all International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement's sampling specifications.

NOTE: Standard errors appear in parentheses. Because results are rounded to the nearest whole number some totals may appear inconsistent.

SOURCE: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, Third International Mathematics and Science Study, 1999, TIMSS 1999 International Mathematics Report, by Ina V.S. Mullis et al. Copyright @ 2000 International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). (This table was prepared May 2001.)


2001 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest