The OECD released the results of its 2012 Program for International Student Assessment,

or PISA, which surveyed about 85-thousand 15-year-olds from 44 countries, including

member nations of the OECD.

Korean students scored an average of 5-hundred-61 points on the computer-based problem solving

section. That's just one point behind Singapore,

putting the island nation and Korea "first-second" in the assessment, and well above the OECD

average of 5-hundred points. Asian countries dominated the rankings.

Japan came in third place, followed by Macao and Hong Kong respectively.

Considering the margin of error, the results are referred to in scopes such as "first-second" when there is no significant difference in the scores.

It was PISA's first assessment of creative problem-solving skills in students

in terms of confronting problems that are encountered in everyday life.

It looks at whether they have acquired the key knowledge and skills needed for full participation in modern society.

The percentage of Korean students that scored a rank of level five or above, out of a

scale of 6, stood at over 27 percent. That led the OECD countries by a large margin.

As for gender, male students scored 13 points higher than their female counterparts.

The Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation said that the findings reaffirm the strong

competitiveness of Korean students against their overseas peers when it comes to creative

problem solving. Connie Kim, Arirang News.