15-year-olds on mainland top global academic test

Students from the Chinese mainland outperformed their counterparts in some of the most developed countries and regions in reading, science and mathematics, according to new test results released on Tuesday from a global education study.

The latest 2018 Program International Student Assessment, hosted every three years by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, found that 15-year-olds in Beijing, Shanghai and the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang ranked No 1 in all three core subjects and achieved the highest Level 4 rating.

They were followed by students from Singapore, Macao and Hong Kong. The OECD's PISA 2018 tested around 600,000 15-year-old students in 79 countries and regions.