**4.6 Learner personal factors**

Data showed a variety of learner-factors that are important in influencing how well learners perform in Mathematics. These included gender, anxiety, economic status and attitudes of learners. According to Bed [38], Mathematics anxiety is one of the key factors affecting students' ability to successfully learn Mathematics. Mathematics anxiety is a general negative feeling towards the process of learning the subject and affects the students learning negatively. This finding adds weight to Mensah et al. [21] who showed that the attitude presented by learners towards attaining knowledge in Mathematics was vital in determining the learners' outcomes in the subject. Additionally, Mkhize [27] states that many students struggle with Mathematics at some point. They frequently lament that Mathematics is hard and that they hate it. They also readily quit when they do not understand anything. A negative mindset like this can quickly turn into cycles of low confidence, less motivation, and poor performance [27].
