The report also shows that despite reported links between eating a good breakfast and improved attainment, nearly 30% of 15-year-olds in the United Kingdom do not eat breakfast before school - with the figure rising to more than 35% for the most disadvantaged pupils.
Around 540,000 students took part in the latest Pisa tests, representing around 29 million 15-year-olds in 72 participating countries and economies.
Researchers found more than 63 per cent of Irish students felt anxious about tests despite being well prepared, while 46 per cent of Irish students reported feeling very tense when studying, 10 per cent more than the OECD student average. Across OECD countries, 44% of students expect to complete university, but that number rises to three in four students in Colombia, Qatar and the US.
Anxiety levels are also high in British classrooms with seven out of 10 pupils (72%) admitting they feel anxious before taking a test, even if they are well prepared - the third highest in the survey.
In all countries, girls reported greater schoolwork-related anxiety than boys.
Teachers play a big role in creating the conditions for students' well-being at school and governments should not define the role of teachers exclusively through the number of instruction hours. Happier students tended to report positive relations with their teachers. But the findings from Pisa show how teachers, schools and parents can make a real difference, said Pisa director Andreas Schleicher. "It should seek to understand the causal relationship between internet use and young people's wellbeing, and look to implement a strategy help young people develop the resilience and skills they need to live safe, digital lives". "There is no secret, you perform better if you feel valued, if you feel well treated, if you are given a hand to succeed".
Irish school students suffer much higher levels of anxiety than their European counterparts in the lead up to exams, according to new research on students' wellbeing.
The academic impact is also significant.
The survey revealed that bullying was a major issue in schools, with a large proportion of students reporting being victims.
Conte: United were more motivated
Then the Spaniard, Ander Herrera, who helped set up the first goal, scored early in the second half. It is a great feeling to know it is hard for us to lose a match.
A total of 17.9 percent of Swedish pupils told the study they were exposed to some form of bullying "at least a few times a month", slightly below the OECD average of 18.7 percent.
Of course, most teachers care about having positive relationships with their students; but some teachers may be insufficiently prepared to deal with hard students and classroom environments. Students in some of the countries that top the PISA league tables in science and mathematics reported comparatively low satisfaction with life; but Estonia, Finland, the Netherlands and Switzerland seem able to combine good learning outcomes with highly satisfied students.
Youngsters who spend more than six hours online are less satisfied with life, the study found.
Girls and disadvantaged students are less likely than boys and advantaged students to report high levels of life satisfaction.
"Again, we confirm, and this is evidence, that girls report lower levels of satisfaction, that they are subject to a lot of pressures, from social media, that they are less happy with themselves", she said.
United Kingdom teens are among the most miserable in the world, new data has revealed.
The report also provides a different view of Australian students after recent concerns about Australia's declining academic results in global and national assessments.
"Disadvantaged pupils are more likely to be bullied than their peers, and are more likely to skip breakfast before school - with the gap between the proportion of advantaged and disadvantaged pupils in the United Kingdom doing so the second biggest out of all 34 countries", she said.
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