In the three other areas of the English test, the listening comprehension section had the highest average percent of correct answers at 58.9%, followed by 51.7% in reading comprehension and only 24.1% in writing. The speaking section consisted of five questions based on the school curriculum guidelines, which place importance on learning how to express and share ideas and feelings in English. For one question, students listened to a presentation in English about an environmental issue by a native English-speaking student studying in Japan. The students were then given 60 seconds to think about their views before having to express them in English within 30 seconds. An average of only 4.2% of students responded correctly. More than 60% of students responded incorrectly to all five questions. "The questions were aimed at assessing the ability to express thoughts and reasons based on what students hear, but the set up was too complicated, so it might have been difficult for the students," said a senior member of the National Institute for Educational Policy Research, which prepared the test. The institute is part of the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry. For the speaking section, students used digital devices provided to each of them to deliver the voice data of their responses. This online format was used for the first time. As for overall results on the English test, Tokyo topped all prefectures, with Aichi and Kanagawa prefectures tied for second.