The Students Who Come to the University are Weak in Mathematics, Why and Where is the Problem?

Weakness of students in mathematics is a very old problem, discovering the source of this weakness is not an easy mission and needs to check the curriculum, teaching methods, learning process, assessment methods and using the technology in teaching mathematics. In addition, Mathematics is a vertically structured field, secondary stage depends on preparatory stage which depends also on primary stage. Determining the source of weakness depends on the outcomes of each stage by using international tests to be fair with all stages including the first year University students. In this paper, Authors used four international tests to discriminate the level of students and to investigate their actual performance in the levels; grade 4, grade 8 and first year University students and the end of secondary stage. These international tests are TIMSS for grades 4 and 8, PISA for grade 10, and ACT and ACCUPLACER for first year University students. It is found that the problem starts after grade 8 specially in secondary stage. Teachers, curriculum, teaching methods, lack of using technology, instructional language, using the calculators continuously and lack of communication between the schools and the university are factors affect students’ transition from high school to university.