This study measures the mathematical abilities high school graduates" in Bahrain. Mathematical abilities encompass conceptual understanding, procedural knowledge and problem-solving skills in the five content domains which are Number and Operations, Algebra, Geometry, Measurement, and Data Analysis and Probability. While procedural understanding focusses on performing facts and algorithms, conceptual understanding reflects a student's ability to reason and comprehend mathematical concepts, operations and relations which will be helpful in solving non-routine problems. A test consisting of questions from the five content domains was administered to students where they demonstrated conceptual understanding and procedural knowledge which enabled them to solve problems in various real-life situations. Structured interviews were also conducted to test their mathematical abilities and suggest ways to improve proficiency in mathematics and eliminate misconceptions. The results show that conceptual understanding and problem-solving skills are positively correlated. This research also endeavors to correlate students" performance in this test with their high school GPA. Contribution/Originality:This study explores the relationship between mathematical abilities: conceptual understanding, procedural knowledge and problem-solving skills in high school graduates in the five mathematics content domains: number and operations, algebra, geometry, measurement, and data analysis and probability. INTRODUCTIONEven after graduating from high school, it is apparent that students do not possess an appropriate level of conceptual understanding in the five content domains. This adversely impacts on their problem solving capabilities.Problem solving is one of the major processes defined in the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Standards for School Mathematics (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2000). Problem solving involves students applying four processes: reasoning, communication, connections, and representation. Problem solving can also provide opportunities for students to apply content knowledge in all five mathematic domains. Problem solving provides a window into children"s mathematical thinking and is consequently a major vehicle for assessment.Learning with understanding is essential to enable students to solve emergent problems throughout their lives.

Many recent studies in the field of mathematics and science education have been studying the effect of non-cognitive factors in students' achievement such as emotions, attitudes, values, beliefs, motivation, anxiety and grit. For example, attitude has been an important area in science education, and there have been many attempts to measure students attitudes to understand why they prefer a specific science subject (Reid;2006). Zimmerman and Brogan (2015) stated that 'grit predicts successful performance in a variety of contexts and found to be positively correlated with undergraduate grade average.' Unfortunately, there are very few attempts if any have been studying the effect of grit on students' academic achievement in Bahrain. Bahrain is an important economic sector in the Arabic Gulf region; it has very ambitious and competitive developing economical and educational vision. This study aims to find relationships between students' level of grit and attitudes toward mathematics and science and the academic achievements in Bahrain secondary schools. 'Grit questionnaire' was adapted from Duckworth et al. (2007), and was administered to a total of 646 secondary school students. 'Attitudes toward mathematics' questionnaire was adapted from TIMSS (2011), and administered to a total of 349 secondary school students. 'Attitudes toward science' questionnaire was adapted from TIMSS (2011), and administered to a total of 297 secondary school students. The results showed that grit is positively and significantly correlated to academic achievement in math only, while attitudes towards math and science was positively and significantly correlated to academic achievement in both subjects.

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The present study examined the impact of psychological adjustment on private university students’ academic achievement. The sample size consisted of 121 university students (42.1% male, and 57.9% female). The results showed that 34% of the students recorded low levels of psychological adjustment, 51 % of the students recorded average levels of psychological adjustment, 15 % of the students recorded high levels of psychological adjustment. The findings also indicated relationship between psychological adjustment and university academic achievement and that psychological adjustment has a significant positive impact on private university students’ academic achievement. The study concludes with suggesting to apply tests that measure students’ psychological adjustment with the specialization in which they wish to continue their university study in before accepting them in any academic specialization.