Indonesian Students' Math Skills Ranked 6th in ASEAN

Indonesian students' mathematical abilities are considered low compared to those in neighboring countries.

This is evident from the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report released by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

PISA defines mathematical literacy as "the capacity to formulate, employ, and interpret mathematics in a variety of contexts to describe, predict and explain phenomena."

To measure this ability, PISA conducts tests and surveys on a sample of 15-year-old students from dozens of countries.

PISA then classifies mathematical literacy into 8 levels, from the highest level 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1a, 1b, to 1c. The higher the number, the better the assumed ability.

In 2022, Indonesian students achieved a mathematics score of 366 points, ranking 6th out of 8 ASEAN countries participating in the PISA test.

With a score of 366, in 2022, Indonesian students' mathematical abilities fell into level 1a.

This means that, in general, Indonesian students can answer mathematical questions involving simple contexts, with clearly defined question conditions, and all necessary information provided.

Students with level 1a mathematical abilities can also use basic algorithms, formulas, or procedures to solve problems that generally involve integers.

However, students at this level are not yet able to think creatively to formulate solutions to more complex problems.

Meanwhile, a neighboring country with very high mathematics scores is Singapore, namely 575.

This score makes Singapore the champion in ASEAN, and also the first rank out of 81 countries participating in the PISA test.

With a score of 575, Singaporean students on average have level 4 mathematical abilities, capable of solving problems in complex contexts.

They also generally possess critical thinking skills and are able to evaluate something based on information not provided in the test.