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About 40 percent of fourth graders in

Singapore and Hong Kong reached or

surpassed the Advanced Benchmark,

and about 40 to 45 percent of eighth

graders in Taiwan, Korea, and Singapore

pulled it off. Worldwide, the median

percentage of students reaching the

Advanced Benchmark was only 5 percent

at the fourth grade and 2 percent

at the eighth grade.

How to explain these sensational performance

gaps between Asia and the

rest of the world? Consider this interesting

wrinkle in the TIMSS exam. Students

taking the test are also asked to

answer a tedious series of questions

about themselves, ranging from how

much they enjoy science to whether

there are enough books in their home

to fill three or more bookcases. The

questionnaire takes a long time to complete,

and since it doesn’t count toward

572/929

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