Commentators have suggested that one of the characteristics of the performance of students in England in international surveys is that a great range in achievement is demonstrated (e.g. Reynolds and Farrell, 1996). Taking it further, it has been suggested that this feature of attainment simply mirrors inequalities in society in England. In this paper, it is argued that the actual picture of comparative achievement is rather more complex than that suggested by the phrase ‘long tail’. It is now possible to analyse the outcomes of a variety of international surveys which have focused on what are identified as the core subjects of the curriculum. This paper focuses on the results of PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) 2006 and TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) 2007. For selected countries, the analysis looks at a country’s scale score at various percentiles as a standardised deviation from the mean score of all participating countries. This analysis reveals that patterns of achievement within countries can differ across surveys. In England, for example, the comparatively weak performance of students in the lower half of the distribution is much more evident in reading than in mathematics or science.