High School Students' Proficiency in Solving Higher-Order Mathematics Problems

Abstract

Higher-order thinking (HOT) skills, such as analysis (C4) and evaluation (C5), are important elements in mathematics learning. This study aims to assess the proficiency of high school students in solving mathematics problems at the C4 and C5 levels, analyse differences in proficiency based on gender, and identify differences in proficiency between students from SMAN A and SMAN B in Banjarmasin. With a quantitative descriptive approach, 129 grade XI students became the study subjects. The HOT essay test was used as an instrument and analysed using descriptive statistics and the Mann-Whitney test. The results showed that the average proficiency of students was in the moderate category (Mean = 60.04), with the average score of female students (60.16) slightly higher than male students (59.87) and a smaller variation in proficiency in females. Based on school, SMAN A students had a higher average score (62.68) than SMAN B (57.73), although this difference was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). These findings indicate the importance of developing more structured learning to improve students' high-level thinking skills. These results indicate that high school students' mathematical analysis and evaluation skills still need to be improved through a more targeted and varied educational approach.