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Physics at the End of High School: Subscale Scores

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Table 57. Average physics cognitive domain scores of TIMSS Advanced students, by education system: 2015
Education system Physics coverage index1 Cognitive domain
Knowing Applying Reasoning
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.

† Not applicable.

1 The physics coverage index is the percentage of the corresponding age cohort covered by students in their final year of secondary school who have taken or are taking physics courses. The corresponding age cohort is determined for education systems individually. In the United States, the corresponding age cohort is considered 18-year-olds. For additional details, see the Technical Notes available on http://nces.ed.gov/timss/timss15technotes.asp.

2 Did not satisfy guidelines for sample participation rates.

NOTE: Education systems are ordered by the average score in reasoning. The TIMSS Advanced scale centerpoint is set at 500 points and represents the mean of the overall achievement distribution in 1995. The TIMSS Advanced 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.

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

TIMSS Advanced scale centerpoint 500 higher 0.0 500 higher 0.0 500 higher 0.0
Norway 6.5 529 higher 4.2 484 higher 5.3 519 higher 5.7
Slovenia 7.6 521 higher 4.2 543 higher 3.8 514 higher 5.7
Russian Federation 4.9 517 higher 7.5 508 higher 7.6 493 higher 6.7
Portugal 5.1 474 higher 4.7 452 higher 5.7 481 higher 3.9
United States2 4.8 444 9.8 420 10.2 455 8.8
Sweden 14.3 452 6.0 454 higher 6.4 450 6.2
France 21.5 375 lower 3.9 358 lower 5.6 397 lower 4.2
Italy 18.2 367 lower 6.6 371 lower 7.3 375 lower 7.3
Lebanon2 3.9 378 lower 4.7 433 5.4 375 lower 6.2