Is "similar between" wrong?

[herbivorie]

The result of the Japanese test in Korean students were similar to that in in Chinese students.

Can I paraphrse the above sentence as follows or is it wrong to say "similar between"? (Does it always have to be "similar to"?)

The results of the Japanese test were similar between Korean students and Chinese students.

 

[Raymott]

I'd use "similar among" in this case. "The Korean students' results were similar to the Chinese students' results."
"The overall results were similar between John and Mary." "John's results were similar to Mary's results."
If A is similar to B, there is a similarity between A and B.

 

[emsr2d2]

The result of the Japanese test in Korean students were similar to that in in Chinese students.

The original should read "The result of the Japanese test was similar ...".

 

[MikeNewYork]

If your second sentence means that the results of Korean students (as a group) were similar to the results of Chinese students (as a group), I would use "between".