Program for International Student Assessment (PISA): 2015 Results

Science Literacy: Proficiency Levels

Overall High and Low Performers Content Subscales Process Subscales

Overall

Table S4. Percentage distribution of 15-year-old students on the PISA science literacy scale, by proficiency level and education system: 2015
Education system	Below level 1b		Level 1b		Level 1a		Level 2		Level 3		Level 4			Level 5			Level 6
Education system	Percent	*s.e.*	Percent	*s.e.*	Percent	*s.e.*	Percent	*s.e.*	Percent	*s.e.*	Percent	*s.e.*		Percent	*s.e.*		Percent	*s.e.*
OECD average	0.6	0.03	4.9	0.08	15.7	0.13	24.8	0.14	27.2	0.15	19.0	0.13		6.7	0.08		1.1	0.03
Albania	1.6	0.29	10.3	0.77	29.8	1.23	34.5	0.99	18.9	1.31	4.5	0.58		#	†	!	‡	†
Algeria	3.9	0.50	24.1	1.04	42.8	1.01	22.7	1.07	5.6	0.62	0.9	0.22		‡	†		#	†
Australia	0.6	0.09	4.3	0.26	12.8	0.48	21.6	0.53	27.3	0.51	22.3	0.53		9.2	0.42		2.0	0.22
Austria	0.5	0.16	4.5	0.47	15.8	0.82	23.9	0.77	28.1	0.83	19.5	0.79		6.8	0.49		1	0.18
B-S-J-G (China)	0.6	0.19	3.8	0.50	11.8	0.91	20.7	1.08	25.8	1.06	23.8	1.12		11.5	1.08		2.1	0.47
Belgium	0.5	0.12	4.9	0.42	14.4	0.62	21.9	0.63	26.8	0.74	22.5	0.65		8.0	0.41		1.0	0.13
Brazil	4.4	0.31	19.9	0.63	32.4	0.62	25.4	0.59	13.1	0.60	4.2	0.40		1	0.13		‡	†
Buenos Aires (Argentina)	‡	†	4.8	0.88	17.2	1.78	30.8	1.87	29.0	1.86	14.9	1.81		2.6	0.73		‡	†
Bulgaria	2.7	0.41	12.4	1.01	22.8	1.08	25.2	1.12	22.6	1.17	11.4	0.91		2.7	0.39		‡	†
Canada	#	†	1.8	0.19	9.1	0.44	20.2	0.58	30.3	0.54	26.1	0.69		10.4	0.52		2.0	0.21
Chile	1.0	0.21	8.9	0.57	25.0	0.91	31.0	0.98	23.8	0.91	9.1	0.66		1.2	0.19		‡	†
Chinese Taipei	#	†	2.7	0.35	9.4	0.63	18.1	0.63	27.0	0.92	27.1	0.80		12.7	0.76		2.7	0.47
Colombia	1.7	0.32	14.5	0.91	32.8	0.89	30.6	0.92	15.9	0.71	4.1	0.36		#	†		‡	†
Costa Rica	0.7	0.19	10.1	0.64	35.6	0.99	35.5	0.83	15.2	0.87	2.7	0.36		‡	†		‡	†
Croatia	#	†	5.1	0.48	19.2	1.00	29.5	0.85	27.5	0.99	14.4	0.74		3.6	0.38		#	†
Cyprus	2.3	0.28	12.9	0.56	26.9	0.82	28.6	0.77	19.6	0.68	8.1	0.43		1.5	0.25		‡	†
Czech Republic	#	†	4.3	0.48	16.1	0.80	25.9	0.81	27.7	0.89	18.4	0.74		6.3	0.45		1	0.17
Denmark	#	†	3.0	0.29	12.5	0.70	25.9	0.90	31.1	1.05	20.2	0.80		6.1	0.55		1	0.19
Dominican Republic	15.8	1.03	39.6	1.28	30.4	1.31	11.3	0.85	2.6	0.48	0.3	0.14	!	‡	†		#	†
Estonia	‡	†	1.2	0.23	7.5	0.60	20.1	0.73	30.7	0.91	26.9	0.94		11.6	0.68		1.9	0.26
Finland	#	†	2.3	0.33	8.9	0.56	19.1	0.73	29.2	0.79	26.0	0.83		11.9	0.58		2.4	0.28
France	0.9	0.18	5.8	0.48	15.3	0.63	22.0	0.86	26.5	0.78	21.4	0.75		7.2	0.52		1	0.15
Georgia	4.2	0.44	16.0	0.93	30.5	1.07	28.2	1.02	15.2	0.69	4.9	0.49		1	0.20		‡	†
Germany	#	†	3.8	0.41	12.8	0.69	22.7	0.81	27.7	0.80	22.0	0.80		8.8	0.56		1.8	0.20
Greece	1.2	0.31	9.1	0.99	22.4	1.07	28.4	1.11	25.2	1.10	11.6	0.86		2.0	0.29		#	†
Hong Kong (China)	‡	†	1.6	0.29	7.8	0.63	19.7	0.87	36.1	0.91	27.4	1.08		6.9	0.64		#	†
Hungary	0.8	0.19	6.8	0.63	18.4	0.86	25.5	0.85	27.3	0.88	16.6	0.77		4.3	0.41		#	†
Iceland	0.8	0.23	5.8	0.51	18.7	0.86	29.0	1.00	27.3	0.93	14.6	0.80		3.5	0.37		#	†
Indonesia	1.2	0.36	14.4	1.11	40.4	1.47	31.7	1.26	10.6	0.82	1.6	0.30		‡	†		#	†
Ireland	#	†	2.7	0.38	12.4	0.78	26.4	0.94	31.1	0.87	20.1	0.82		6.3	0.41		1	0.16
Israel	2.1	0.37	9.5	0.75	19.9	0.88	24.4	0.82	23.3	0.98	15.0	0.82		5.1	0.45		1	0.14
Italy	0.6	0.17	5.4	0.55	17.2	0.79	27.1	0.95	28.6	1.04	17.0	0.75		3.8	0.36		#	†
Japan	‡	†	1.7	0.28	7.7	0.57	18.1	0.80	28.2	0.87	28.8	0.93		12.9	0.80		2.4	0.40
Jordan	4.2	0.51	15.2	0.89	30.4	0.85	30.9	0.97	16.1	0.85	3.1	0.37		#	†	!	#	†
Korea, Republic of	#	†	2.9	0.36	11.1	0.70	21.7	0.95	29.2	0.92	24.0	1.00		9.2	0.71		1.4	0.25
Kosovo	4.0	0.48	24.4	0.98	39.3	1.12	24.4	1.02	7.2	0.68	0.7	0.18		‡	†		#	†
Latvia	‡	†	2.6	0.30	14.5	0.68	29.8	0.81	31.7	0.82	17.4	0.77		3.5	0.36		#	0.10
Lebanon	6.8	0.74	23.6	1.30	32.3	1.23	22.0	1.17	11.6	0.94	3.3	0.43		#	†	!	‡	†
Lithuania	0.5	0.13	5.4	0.49	18.9	0.85	29.7	0.87	26.3	0.71	15.1	0.70		3.9	0.47		#	0.11
Luxembourg	0.5	0.14	6.4	0.48	18.9	0.59	24.8	0.74	25.1	0.72	17.3	0.63		6.0	0.39		1	0.17
Macau (China)	‡	†	1.1	0.21	6.9	0.42	20.6	0.65	34.2	0.90	28.0	0.75		8.3	0.52		1	0.22
Macedonia, Republic of	6.8	0.49	22.3	0.81	33.8	0.90	24.6	0.72	10.3	0.54	2.0	0.31		#	†	!	‡	†
Malta	3.9	0.40	10.6	0.67	18.0	0.86	23.4	0.81	21.7	0.90	14.8	0.89		6.1	0.40		1.6	0.26
Mexico	1.1	0.27	11.7	0.74	35.0	1.00	34.7	0.89	15.1	0.89	2.3	0.29		#	†		#	†
Moldova, Republic of	2.3	0.31	11.8	0.61	28.2	0.82	31.5	1.20	19.7	0.91	5.9	0.56		1	0.15	!	‡	†
Montenegro, Republic of	3.1	0.27	15.8	0.49	32.1	0.69	29.0	0.62	15.1	0.51	4.4	0.33		#	†		‡	†
Netherlands	#	†	4.0	0.45	14.3	0.73	21.8	0.88	26.1	0.86	22.4	0.80		9.5	0.53		1.6	0.23
New Zealand	#	†	4.0	0.37	13.0	0.77	21.6	0.78	26.3	0.79	21.8	0.79		10.1	0.63		2.7	0.37
Norway	0.6	0.15	4.1	0.40	14.0	0.68	24.6	0.76	29.1	0.81	19.6	0.78		6.9	0.49		1.1	0.18
Peru	2.8	0.35	19.0	0.82	36.7	1.02	27.9	0.97	11.5	0.74	2.0	0.30		#	†	!	#	†
Poland	#	†	2.6	0.36	13.3	0.70	26.6	0.93	29.9	0.93	19.9	0.78		6.3	0.55		1.0	0.19
Portugal	#	†	3.2	0.37	14.0	0.85	25.4	0.77	28.8	0.84	21.0	0.81		6.7	0.46		1	0.15
Qatar	3.9	0.25	17.9	0.47	28.0	0.64	24.6	0.45	16.4	0.49	7.5	0.30		1.6	0.14		#	†
Romania	0.9	0.24	9.3	0.87	28.4	1.39	35.0	1.35	19.9	1.04	5.9	0.71		1	0.19		‡	†
Russian Federation	‡	†	2.9	0.43	15.2	0.98	31.2	0.90	30.9	0.86	16.0	0.85		3.5	0.38		#	†
Singapore	#	†	2.0	0.22	7.5	0.46	15.1	0.46	23.4	0.62	27.7	0.65		18.6	0.67		5.6	0.42
Slovak Republic	2.1	0.31	8.9	0.73	19.7	0.81	27.6	0.79	24.8	0.72	13.3	0.64		3.3	0.34		#	†
Slovenia	#	†	2.8	0.29	11.9	0.51	23.3	0.72	29.1	0.87	22.1	0.84		9.1	0.58		1.5	0.29
Spain	#	†	3.7	0.42	14.3	0.70	26.5	0.71	31.3	0.73	18.9	0.73		4.7	0.37		#	†
Sweden	0.9	0.18	5.7	0.53	15.0	0.91	24.0	0.86	26.8	0.88	19.0	0.87		7.2	0.61		1.3	0.24
Switzerland	0.5	0.16	4.0	0.48	13.9	0.79	22.8	0.82	26.3	1.08	22.7	1.02		8.6	0.62		1.1	0.22
Thailand	1.1	0.21	11.9	0.75	33.7	1.07	32.2	0.90	16.0	0.82	4.6	0.61		#	†	!	‡	†
Trinidad and Tobago	2.9	0.46	15.0	0.71	27.9	0.92	27.1	0.82	18.3	0.65	7.3	0.54		1.3	0.24		‡	†
Tunisia	1.6	0.31	20.0	1.06	44.2	1.06	26.6	1.15	6.8	0.63	0.7	0.26		‡	†		#	†
Turkey	1.1	0.25	11.8	0.98	31.6	1.47	31.3	1.32	19.1	1.38	4.8	0.86		#	†	!	‡	†
United Arab Emirates	2.6	0.29	13.0	0.61	26.1	0.71	26.9	0.62	19.0	0.66	9.5	0.53		2.5	0.20		#	†
United Kingdom	#	†	3.4	0.30	13.6	0.68	22.6	0.72	27.5	0.70	21.6	0.69		9.1	0.60		1.8	0.23
United States	0.5	0.14	4.3	0.47	15.5	0.78	25.5	0.78	26.6	0.89	19.1	0.93		7.3	0.55		1.2	0.22
Uruguay	1.2	0.23	11.2	0.78	28.4	0.93	30.3	0.83	20.3	0.76	7.4	0.54		1.2	0.21		‡	†
Vietnam	‡	†	‡	†	5.7	0.73	25.3	1.41	36.6	1.21	23.9	1.22		7.1	0.84		1.2	0.46

U.S. states and territories
Massachusetts	‡	†	2.2	0.55	9.6	1.26	19.2	1.78	29.3	1.78	25.3	1.89		11.4	1.52		2.8	0.72
North Carolina	‡	†	3.4	0.67	14.3	1.45	25.4	1.51	27.0	1.35	20.5	1.54		8.2	0.91		1.0	0.34
Puerto Rico	3.6	0.90	19.5	2.17	32.3	1.88	26.7	2.00	13.5	1.74	4.1	0.85		‡	†		#	†

† Not applicable.
# Rounds to zero.
! Interpret data with caution. Estimate is unstable due to high coefficient of variation (>30 percent and ≤50 percent).
‡ Reporting standards not met due to coefficient of variation over 50 percent.
NOTE: To reach a particular proficiency level, a student must correctly answer a majority of items at that level. Students were classified into science literacy levels according to their scores. Exact cut scores are as follows: below level 1b (a score less than or equal to 260.54); level 1b (a score greater than 260.54 and less than or equal to 334.94); level 1a (a score greater than 334.94 and less than or equal to 409.54); level 2 (a score greater than 409.54 and less than or equal to 484.14); level 3 (a score greater than 484.14 and less than or equal to 558.73); level 4 (a score greater than 558.73 and less than or equal to 633.33); level 5 (a score greater than 633.33 and less than or equal to 707.93); and level 6 (a score greater than 707.93). Scores are reported on a scale from 0 to 1,000. The OECD average is the average of the national percentages of the OECD member countries, with each country weighted equally. Standard error is noted by s.e. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Italics indicate non-OECD countries and education systems. B-S-J-G (China) refers to the four PISA participating China provinces: Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Guangdong. Results for Massachusetts and North Carolina are for public school students only. Although Argentina, Malaysia, and Kazakhstan participated in PISA 2015, technical problems with their samples prevent results from being discussed in this report.
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), 2015.