excluding students with an immigrant background reduces the percentage of poorly performing students slightly to by contrast in shanghaichina hong kongchina canada finland and korea the proportion of poor performers is or less figure in pisa results volume i students proficient at level are capable of very basic tasks such as locating information that meets several conditions making comparisons or contrasts around a single feature working out what a welldefined part of a text means even when the information is not prominent and making connections between the text and personal experience