Abstract:

Mathematics domain plays a vitally important role in the development of university degrees in business administration and management, as the application of mathematical concepts is important for the pedagogy of most of others subject of the courses. It has been reported that Mathematics mastery serves as a significant indicator of students’ general academic accomplishments at the university. Diagnosing the level of mathematical competencies of students arriving at the university can help teachers identify students' weaknesses and strengths and their ability to manipulate mathematical concepts such as demonstrations and hypotheses. Thus, educators are able to identify discrepancies in the background education of students and the ability that future students have to acquire new content. The purpose of this article is to identify how active participation in pre-university mathematics courses influences the performance of a diagnostic test carried out at the beginning of the course on basic knowledge of the subject, and on the final evaluation of the subject of Business Mathematics of the first year of Business Administration and Management in a private university in Spain. As such, this paper analyzes the difference between student's gender and their achievement on the Mathematics diagnostic test and on final Mathematics assessment.

Keywords:

Gender, Mathematics, pre-university courses.