Highs and lows of ESL scores

Students from other countries who want to study at US universities generally are required to take an English test.

Some half-million students took the ESL (English as a second language) test in 1978 and 1979. A perfect score is 800; lowest possible is 200. The highest average mean score was earned by 20 students from Ireland -- a 593.

Fifty-three students from Luxembourg had a mean total score of 592, and some 1,456 students from the Netherlands earned a 591. Next came South Africa and Denmark with mean scores of 585; then Malawi and Trinidad with 584. The 1,111 Swedes who took the test earned a mean score of 582.