Many British undergraduates have not covered any maths since GCSE, according to the Royal Society of Chemistry

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I don't think the primary example is a fair judgement of the level of difficulty of testing. The example shown to represent the questions given to English university students is too simple. This sort of question seems to be the type of question that would be given at the beginning of a remedial geometry class to access how much the student knows.
The differences in the purposes of the the two questions supplied probably account for the differences in difficulty level.
Also, many tests in the United States such as AP/SAT/ACT as well as International Baccalaureate tests that originate from the UK typically start out each section with easy questions to build up confidence/help the student warm up before giving students more difficult questions.

But on the other hand, I saw this question on California's Standardized test for high school students (11th grade): "6 + (-11) = ?"

Though I do strongly criticize the sample questions given, I do agree with the general message of the article.

- Chris, CA, USA

The Chinese test is much harder mostly because of fierce competition, which in my opinion leads to some unnecessarily difficult questions. I completed college in china and got my doctorate in the states, and I can appreciate the advantages of both eastern asian and western education system. For the chinese part, the students who advanced through the entrance exams obviously have better academic foundation on average. However, lots of subjects that were taught extensively were simply useless. The western education, besides encouraging active thinking, also provides wider range of knowledge, even though never really deep. But again, if you are really interested, you can pursue advanced study. Overall, I don't think it is really necessary for the majority of the pupils to learn that much math, in any country, as required by the chinese exam.

The British test, however, does seem to be way too simple. Shouldn't chemistry students be ready for some geometry. In fact, I think if the two tests were switched, it would make much more sense.

- Lary, USA

I am a senior in high school over here in america and it is safe to say that both China and Great Britain's standards for education are higher than here in the states.

- Wil, Loganville, GA USA

The article completely missed the reason why it's this way in China.

Since it's a communist system, people are not judged by their income (since incomes are fairly flatly distributed), but by their education level. Combine that with the fact that only 2% of the population gets to go to college (simply because there aren't enough colleges), it stands to reason that the entrance exams would be much tougher than those in countries with more available seats.

- David Tribble, Plano, TX

I have met many engineers from China, and they all have excellent educations (many of them completing their undergraduate work here in the U.S.) But it remains the U.S. and Western Europe that continue to drive science and technology to the next level. Perhaps it is the political and economic influence felt in places like China that prevents their good start in high school from leading to a superior education, but in the end, we all attend the same universities, we all take the same classes, and we all compete for the same jobs. The Chinese who come to the U.S. seeking engineering careers are no more likely to do a good job in the position than anyone else with a four year degree.

- Io, New York, USA

The English question merely checks whether the candidate has memorised something, it could be answered correctly by someone who has no understanding of what an area or a tangent actually are. The Chinese one requires that understanding. (in considerable depth!)

- Nigel, London

At first sight, 'Asian' education systems may appear to produce unthinking 'clones' or 'drones (re Jordana Starr's email).

I now teach here in China, having taught in Britain for fifteen years. I'm beginning to appeciate some of the positive aspects of the education system here, and don't see it as producing unthinking cyphers.

Some students may appear to be terrified of authority when you first meet them, but with gentle encouragement they often demonstrate a maturity of thought and analysis (in both the Arts and Sciences) that is impressive. (You must remember the very different cultural background such students come from.)

Teaching methods in Asian countries may well be based on a high proportion of 'cramming', or rote learning, but despite this, I would say that here in China most students are given a good grounding in the basic subjects, including Maths, by the time they leave Middle School (at the age of about fifteen). Most students also acquire a disciplined approach to their work, which I think gives them an advantage over others. Looking at some of the text books my young neice has, they do demand a high level of independent thought and creative thinking, even though appearing formulaic at first sight.

The amazing advances being made here depend on high-level management skills and creative thinking - which Chinese people have in abundance!

- Tim Lyon, Changsha, China

The two tests don't appear to have the same objectives. The second is to determine maths weakness (and I doubt any of the engineering students at the major universities would have got that one wrong) and the first an entrance test maybe? Which, by the way, is remarkably similar to a question on one of the past Oxbridge entrance papers.

- Francis Smith, Rouen, Francis

Good God, is that seriously an English University question for students? We learnt that aged 13 at school, it's a pythagorean triple, one of the basic tenets of geometry.

- Trevor Roll, London

Irish system is the best, you have to learn and think. Its hard but the fairest there is. Uni is based on how well you do not how rich you are

- Joe, Dunleer, Ireland

The English university test does look like a high school level test. Maybe the problem is the dumbing down of standards?

- Gordon Jew, Stockton, CA USA

Meanwhile, Asian educational systems are a complete mockery of education. Students here may be excellent at math, because it requires memorization and computation, but they are completely useless when it comes to critical thinking and analysis.

I work for an educational testing company in Taipei, which is lightyears ahead of Beijing and Shanghai. The students here start school around the age of 3, and by age 6 they are attending cram school. The average student is in school until 8pm and high school seniors until 10. And what do they show for it? The ability to spit back memorized material. The ability to do computations. But they can't THINK. They don't know how to question, they are terrified of authority, and as a result, business is a wreck. I think the poor educational system here is most evident in the complete lack of managerial skills you find in most businesses in Asia.

The tests I write would be considered a joke in the West. Foreigners in my company get reprimanded whenever we suggest that students think for themselves instead of spitting back information. It is like living among drones. So what that they can do math? Computers can, too, and within a few years, better than humans can. Meanwhile, they can't run businesses and they are inept when it comes to problem solving and productivity.

- Jordana Starr, Taipei, Taiwan

This is what they are asking college students in Europe? And I thought Americans were behind. This is sad. No wonder everything you pick up is "Made in China".

- Joe, San Antonio, Texas

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