One of these is a test sat by Chinese students. The other is the British version. (No prizes for guessing which)

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Most universities are now forced to send science students on remedial maths courses because their grasp of the subject is so poor, leading scientists warned yesterday.

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

And Chinese teenagers are way ahead of their UK counterparts in maths because so many British sixth-formers drop the subject in favour of easier ones.

Undergraduates in the Far East have to pass tough tests in advanced trigonometry and algebra before they can study science at most universities.

The society gave the warning as it launched a £500 prize draw for those who can answer a sample maths question from a Chinese university entrance examination.

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Chief executive Dr Richard Pike blamed Government league tables for the British trend to drop maths at the earliest opportunity, even among budding scientists.

He said teachers steer 16-year-olds away from maths and encourage them to take "easier" A-levels purely to boost their school's ranking in annual performance tables.

Dr Pike said the trend threatened to undermine Britain's future economic prosperity and force firms to relocate overseas in search of highly-skilled workers.

"Most universities run remedial mathematics courses for new chemistry students, as many have not opened a textbook on the subject for over two years," he said.

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"This contrasts sharply with other leading economies competing globally with the UK, such as in China, India and Japan where all high school students take a wide range of subjects including mathematics up to the age of 18."

Dr Pike is calling for the scrapping of school league tables and a requirement for sixth-formers to study maths if they want to take science at university.

The Department for Education and Skills countered that the number of young people choosing to study science, maths and further maths is increasing.

The £500 draw can be entered via the society's website (www.rsc.org) until Friday.