Singapore has participated in every PISA cycle since 2009. In PISA 2025, its mean scores were 560 in science, 563 in mathematics, and 535 in reading. The latest cycle shows lower mathematics and reading performance than in 2022, while OECD trend analysis treats science as about the same after accounting for statistical uncertainty.
Singapore’s PISA 2025 Results
The 2025 cycle focused on science, with mathematics and reading also reported on the PISA scale.
Singapore and the OECD Average in 2025
Score gaps are calculated from OECD-published rounded mean scores.
| Domain | Singapore | OECD average | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Science | 560 | 482 | +78 |
| Mathematics | 563 | 463 | +100 |
| Reading | 535 | 461 | +74 |
A mean score describes system-level performance across a student sample. It is not an individual proficiency level or a combined overall PISA score.
OECD reporting places Singapore among the two highest-scoring education systems across the three core domains in PISA 2025. Singapore had the highest reported mean in reading, while B-S-J-Z (China) had higher means in science and mathematics.
PISA Scores Across Every Singapore Cycle, 2009–2025
Singapore first participated in PISA in 2009. The table keeps the full reported score series for mathematics, reading, and science.
Singapore Mean Scores by PISA Cycle
OECD mean scores, rounded to whole PISA score points.
| PISA cycle | Mathematics | Reading | Science |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 562 | 526 | 542 |
| 2012 | 573 | 542 | 551 |
| 2015 | 564 | 535 | 556 |
| 2018 | 569 | 549 | 551 |
| 2022 | 575 | 543 | 561 |
| 2025 | 563 | 535 | 560 |
PISA is cycle-based rather than annual. The 2022 assessment followed 2018 after a four-year interval.
Singapore PISA Mean Scores by Cycle
The lines trace the reported mathematics, reading, and science means from Singapore’s first participation through PISA 2025.
The vertical scale starts at 500 to keep cycle movements readable without compressing the series into a very narrow range. Domain scores should not be added together into an “overall PISA score.”
- Across the displayed rounded means, science has the largest first-to-latest increase: 542 in 2009 to 560 in 2025, a difference of 18 points.
- Mathematics moved from 562 in 2009 to 563 in 2025, despite reaching 575 in 2022. The long-run endpoints are almost unchanged, while the latest cycle moved down from the 2022 high.
- Reading rose from 526 in 2009 to 535 in 2025, but the 2025 mean is 14 points below the 2018 high of 549.
The 2022–2025 Movement Was Uneven Across Subjects
OECD trend estimates show a clear drop in mathematics and reading, while the small science movement is treated as statistically about the same as in 2022.
Official 2022-to-2025 Score Change
OECD-reported change estimates for Singapore, in PISA score points.
The OECD change estimate for science is -2 points even though the published rounded means are 561 and 560. Trend calculations use underlying unrounded estimates and their uncertainty.
The latest movement does not erase the longer history. OECD’s 2025 country note describes Singapore’s longer-run science performance as improving, while mathematics and reading are relatively stable over the longer period despite their recent declines.
What the 2025 Scores Look Like in Proficiency Terms
Mean scores and proficiency shares answer different questions. The proficiency data show how students are distributed around baseline and advanced performance thresholds.
Singapore Proficiency Shares in PISA 2025
Rounded shares reported in the OECD Singapore country note.
| Domain | Level 2 or higher | Level 5 or 6 |
|---|---|---|
| Science | 90% | 26% |
| Mathematics | 89% | 37% |
| Reading | 86% | 22% |
Level 2 is the OECD baseline proficiency threshold used for each domain. Levels 5 and 6 identify top performers. These shares should not be inferred from the mean score alone.
How to Read Singapore’s PISA Trend
PISA scores are estimates from samples of 15-year-old students. Small point differences can fall within sampling uncertainty, so a rounded score change is not automatically evidence of a detectable shift. OECD trend tables use unrounded estimates, standard errors, and formal comparison tests.
The three PISA domains use separate reporting scales. A higher mathematics score than reading score within the same cycle does not create a valid combined subject ranking for an individual student, and the three means should not be averaged into an official overall score.
For Singapore, the most useful distinction is between the latest-cycle movement and the longer series. Mathematics and reading fell from 2022 to 2025. Science did not show a detectable change over the same interval, while its longer series remains above Singapore’s 2009 starting point.
Data Sources and Measurement
All score values and trend statements on this page are based on official OECD PISA reporting.
OECD — PISA 2025 Results (Volume I): Singapore provides Singapore’s 2025 trend interpretation and proficiency shares.
OECD — Student performance in PISA 2025 reports the 2025 Singapore means, OECD averages, and cross-system comparisons.
OECD — Snapshot of trends in reading, mathematics and science performance provides Singapore’s reported 2009, 2012, 2015, and 2018 mean scores.
OECD — PISA 2022 Results, Singapore reports the 2022 scores and confirms that Singapore first participated in PISA in 2009.
Displayed score differences calculated on this page use published rounded means unless identified as an OECD-reported trend estimate. Because OECD trend testing uses unrounded estimates and sampling uncertainty, derived arithmetic and official trend classifications can differ slightly.