Arab Educational Information Network

Mathematical readiness for the tertiary level is an international challenge that has been addressed for many years and by many researchers. Students moving from secondary education to higher education lack mathematical competencies needed for college work. Some of the attempted solutions have been found useful. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia addressed this challenge by introducing the Preparatory Year Program (PYP) as a post-secondary, pre-college program. The program intends to address students’ mathematical skills, English language proficiency, and personality traits. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the program to strengthen mathematical competencies needed for college level, especially from the point view of the students themselves. In that, the study investigates: 1) if there are significant correlations between preparatory mathematics grades and college mathematics grades. 2) Student’s mathematics achievement at the PYP as a predictor of mathematics achievement at the college level. 3) Students’ perception about the PYP program. The population of the study consists of students who completed the PYP and some of the courses in the academic program including the first college-level mathematics course. The sample was collected from one private university in Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia. The research results suggested that the grade earned in PYP mathematics courses correlates with the grade of the first college-level mathematics course. Furthermore, it was argued that the grades of math courses at PYP predict mathematics achievements when students move to the college-level. Students themselves agreed that the PYP strengthened students’ competencies. (Published abstract)