'Non-serious' students cost NZ in international test

New Zealand's rankings in an influential OECD test of reading, maths and science are suffering because more than a quarter of the Kiwi kids who sit the exam do not take it seriously. A study for the National Bureau for Economic Research in the United States says this country would do better in the two-hour PISA exam if more students applied themselves and answered all the questions. The finding comes as 5000 Kiwi 15 and 16-year-olds are scheduled to sit the latest edition of the three-yearly test after years of steadily falling scores.