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Illustration: DER SPIEGEL
Mathematics was the focus of the Pisa test this time. Germany's 15-year-olds achieved staggering results in the international performance comparison conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), with young people only slightly above the OECD average. Compared to 2018, they have slipped sharply.
In addition, the proportion of particularly low-achieving pupils, i.e. those who are unable to solve simple mathematical problems, has risen significantly over the past ten years: to 30 percent. According to the researchers, their share is now "very high", similar to the OECD average.
The Pisa results were presented this Tuesday. Since the last survey five years ago, 15-year-olds' performance in all areas – maths, reading, science – has deteriorated massively. While the results in 2018 were still well above the OECD averages, this is now only true for the natural sciences. The Pisa researchers call the development "worrying". (You can read everything you need to know here.)
But how good are your own math skills? Test your knowledge with 23 sample tasks from a Pisa preliminary study: