I decided to let the girl score a few points.

The girls who were taught that intelligence developed over time scored significantly higher on the standardized math test than girls in the fourth group.

The 23-year-old French girl, who has risen to 24th in the world rankings after an excellent season, scored a superb 7-6 (7/2), 7-5 win.

While girls score ahead of boys in middle school, she said, within several years boys outscore girls by almost 2 to 1.

Why girls score less well than boys on the College Board's math and verbal tests is not entirely clear.

In the early primary years, girls and boys score evenly on achievement tests.

But boys and girls scored similarly on the math test.

Statewide, in 1993, girls scored an average 467 in mathematics compared with 510 for boys.

The girls scored a major hit at the end of the year with their first ballad single entitled, "Issho ni."

"We don't really know why girls are scoring lower," said Phyllis Rosser, the main author of the report.