Skip Navigation
Skip Navigation

Mathematics for Grades 4 and 8: Subscale Scores

Content Subscales

Excel File Excel Download

Table 4. Average mathematics content domain scores of 8th-grade students, by education system: 2015
Education system Content domain
Number Algebra Geometry Data and chance
Average score s.e. Average score s.e. Average score s.e. Average score s.e.

higher icon Average score is higher than U.S. average score at the .05 level of statistical significance.

lower icon Average score is lower than U.S. average score at the .05 level of statistical significance.

1 National Defined Population covers 90 to 95 percent of the National Target Population.

2 National Target Population does not include all of the International Target Population.

3 Met guidelines for sample participation rates only after replacement schools were included.

4 The number in parentheses indicates years of school not grade in schooling.

5 National Defined Population covers less than 90 percent of the National Target Population (but at least 77 percent).

6 Reservations about reliability because the percentage of students with achievement too low for estimation exceeds 15 percent but does not exceed 25 percent.

7 Reservations about reliability because the percentage of students with achievement too low for estimation exceeds 25 percent.

8 Did not satisfy guidelines for sample participation rates.

NOTE: Education systems are ordered by 2015 average score in number. Education systems that are not countries are designated by the appended three-letter international abbreviation for their country. Participants that did not administer TIMSS at the target grade are not shown; see the international report for their results. U.S. state data are based on public school students only. The TIMSS scale centerpoint is set at 500 points and represents the mean of the overall achievement distribution in 1995. The TIMSS scale is the same in each administration; thus, a value of 500 in 2015 equals 500 in 1995. Standard error is abbreviated as s.e. For TIMSS 2015, Norway revised its assessed population to students in their 5th and 9th years of schooling to obtain better comparisons with Sweden and Finland. However, in previous TIMSS cycles Norway assessed students in their 4th and 8th years of schooling, which were defined as 4th and 8th grades but have been redefined as 3rd and 7th grades because year 1 in Norway is now considered the equivalent of a year of kindergarten. To maintain trend with previous TIMSS cycles, in 2015 Norway also collected data from students in their 4th and 8th years of schooling, which is used in trend tables.

SOURCE: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), 2015.

TIMSS scale centerpoint 500 lower 0.0 500 lower 0.0 500 0.0 500 lower 0.0
Singapore1 629 higher 3.2 623 higher 3.4 617 higher 3.5 617 higher 3.4
Korea, Republic of 601 higher 2.4 612 higher 2.9 612 higher 3.4 600 higher 2.4
Hong Kong-CHN 594 higher 4.9 593 higher 4.7 602 higher 5.1 597 higher 5.9
Chinese Taipei-CHN 590 higher 2.4 613 higher 2.8 607 higher 2.6 588 higher 2.5
Japan 572 higher 2.4 596 higher 2.8 598 higher 2.6 589 higher 2.3
Ireland 544 higher 3.3 501 lower 2.8 503 3.1 534 higher 3.8
Canada2, 3 537 higher 2.4 513 lower 2.2 527 higher 2.5 534 higher 2.9
Russian Federation 533 higher 4.5 558 higher 5.2 536 higher 5.6 507 lower 5.0
Norway (9)4 529 higher 2.6 471 lower 2.7 498 2.5 542 higher 3.2
England-GBR 528 4.5 492 lower 4.7 514 higher 4.1 541 higher 4.7
Slovenia 524 2.4 498 lower 2.5 522 higher 2.8 525 2.7
United States3 520 3.1 525 3.1 500 3.2 522 3.5
Israel5 518 4.0 517 4.7 487 lower 4.6 503 lower 4.9
Hungary 518 4.0 503 lower 4.1 518 higher 4.2 519 3.9
Kazakhstan 516 5.1 555 higher 5.6 529 higher 6.4 492 lower 5.5
Sweden 513 2.9 482 lower 3.2 478 lower 3.4 512 3.7
Australia 511 3.2 491 lower 3.4 500 3.1 519 3.1
Lithuania1 511 lower 2.8 497 lower 3.3 515 higher 3.1 521 2.7
Malta 501 lower 1.6 492 lower 1.8 484 lower 1.7 487 lower 2.6
New Zealand3 500 lower 3.5 475 lower 3.5 488 lower 3.2 509 lower 3.7
Italy1 494 lower 2.7 481 lower 3.0 504 3.5 496 lower 2.7
Malaysia 472 lower 3.6 467 lower 3.4 455 lower 3.9 451 lower 3.8
United Arab Emirates 464 lower 1.9 485 lower 2.0 447 lower 2.4 449 lower 2.5
Georgia1, 2 457 lower 3.4 469 lower 3.8 441 lower 3.9 421 lower 3.7
Turkey 447 lower 4.6 459 lower 4.6 463 lower 4.9 467 lower 5.2
Lebanon 440 lower 4.1 466 lower 4.0 444 lower 4.0 395 lower 4.6
Bahrain 436 lower 2.0 483 lower 2.1 449 lower 2.5 453 lower 2.2
Qatar6 435 lower 2.9 452 lower 2.6 433 lower 3.0 417 lower 3.9
Iran, Islamic Republic of6 432 lower 4.7 437 lower 5.1 448 lower 4.7 417 lower 5.0
Thailand 430 lower 5.0 429 lower 5.1 429 lower 4.9 425 lower 4.6
Chile6 427 lower 3.3 413 lower 3.4 428 lower 3.4 429 lower 3.8
Kuwait6 395 lower 4.8 384 lower 4.8 382 lower 5.3 377 lower 5.0
Egypt6 393 lower 3.7 420 lower 4.3 393 lower 4.1 338 lower 4.4
Oman6 389 lower 2.6 426 lower 2.7 415 lower 2.8 376 lower 3.0
Morocco7 382 lower 2.1 372 lower 2.3 410 lower 3.0 353 lower 2.9
Jordan7 380 lower 3.2 418 lower 3.5 381 lower 3.4 346 lower 4.0
Saudi Arabia7 352 lower 4.5 391 lower 4.4 342 lower 5.3 361 lower 4.9
Benchmarking participants
Quebec-CAN8 557 higher 4.3 530 4.4 540 higher 4.3 546 higher 5.0
Ontario-CAN 530 higher 3.0 507 lower 3.0 524 higher 3.5 531 3.9
Dubai-UAE 509 lower 2.5 528 2.7 496 2.6 504 lower 3.0
Florida-USA2 498 lower 6.6 502 lower 6.8 470 lower 6.5 489 lower 8.1
Abu Dhabi-UAE 443 lower 4.4 462 lower 4.5 425 lower 5.4 426 lower 5.5
Buenos Aires-ARG3, 7 415 lower 4.2 371 lower 5.1 358 lower 5.0 373 lower 5.3