The OECD published the PISA 2025 results on 8 September 2026. Turkey's 15-year-olds scored 494 in science, 472 in reading and 462 in mathematics, up from 476, 456 and 453 in 2022. According to Turkey's Ministry of National Education, no other OECD country raised its scores as much across all three areas.
Most coverage focused on the rankings. The more useful question for students and parents is what these numbers measure, and what they leave out.
Where does Turkey rank in PISA 2025?
Among all participating countries and economies, 19th in science, 18th in reading and 28th in maths, compared with 34th, 36th and 39th in 2022. Among OECD members only, it placed 14th, 13th and 23rd.
With more than 90 countries and economies taking part, a few points can move a country several places. Rankings therefore exaggerate small differences, and the score itself, together with its distance from the average, tells a steadier story.
Is Turkey above the OECD average?
In science and reading, yes; in maths, roughly level. The OECD averages are 482 in science, 461 in reading and 463 in maths, which leaves Turkey one point below average in maths. The Turkish ministry described the result as reaching the OECD average.
The long view is more striking. In 2003 Turkey scored 434 in science, 441 in reading and 423 in maths. Twenty-two years later, science is up 60 points, reading 31 and maths 39. No single table can say which policy caused how much of that, because a great deal changed in Turkish schools over the same period, from enrolment to the curriculum.
What does PISA actually measure?
Whether 15-year-olds can use what they have learned in situations outside a textbook. Tasks rarely ask for a formula to be recalled. More often they ask students to pull the relevant number out of a chart, compare two options described in a short text, or judge whether a claim follows from the data given.
In Turkey the test ran on computers between 14 April and 16 May 2025, with 7,702 students from 203 schools in 56 provinces. That is a sample. The result estimates the national average for the age group; it is not a report card for any school, city or student.
What can a national average not tell you?
How the scores are spread. An average can rise while the gap between strong and weak schools widens, or while it narrows, and the single number looks the same either way. A parent reading that Turkey gained 18 points in science learns something about the system and very little about their own child.
The question formats are a different matter. Turkey's high school and university entrance exams have moved towards the same style: a long scenario, a table or a graph, and the actual question at the end. Students in many countries now meet similar items, and the same reading habits help with all of them.
How can students practise this kind of question?
By working regularly with questions that wrap the task in context. The most useful habit is reading the axes, units and headings before the question itself; some mistakes come simply from mixing up grams and kilograms, or percentages and counts. Our guides to scenario-based questions and reading comprehension questions go through this step by step.
The practice tests show a worked solution under every question once the test is finished, which makes it easier to tell a reading slip from a gap in knowledge. If it was a reading slip, more content revision will not fix it; solving the same type of question again, more slowly, will.