The article presents the research results on the effects that gender and socio-economic and socio-cultural characteristics have on pupils' achievement in mathematics and secondary school choice. The research was conceptually connected to Bourdieu (1977) and carried out on a sample of693 elementary school pupils from Zagreb and the surrounding Zagreb County. The results have shown that girls have higher school grades in mathematics than boys, and are more likely to choose grammar schools than vocational schools with a large number of math lessons (technical schools). Pupils from families with higher socio-economic and socio-cultural status achieve better grades and more often choose schools with a large number of math lessons. Gender, parents' higher level of education, owning classical literature and the Internet access in one's home proved to be the strongest predictors of higher mathematics achievement. As for the choice of schools, the choice of grammar school was primarily explained by cultural resources of the family, while the choice of technical school was explained by pupils ' gender. These findings are consistent with the results of similar research studies in other countries. Key words: socio-economic status, socio-cultural status, eighth grade pupils, achievement in mathematics, secondary school choice. U radu su prezentirani rezultati empirijskog istrazivanja koje, oslonom na Bourdiea (1977.), ispituje povezanost rodnih, socioekonomskih i sociokulturnih karakteristika ucenika/ca s njihovim uspjehom iz matematike i izborom srednje skole. Istrazivanje je provedeno na uzorku od 693 ucenika/ca 8. razreda osnovnih skola u Gradu Zagrebu i Zagrebackoj zupaniji. Rezultati pokazuju da ucenice imaju bolje ocjene iz matematike od ucenika te da cesce nego ucenici namjeravaju upisati gimnazije, ali znatno rjede strukovne skole sa zastupljenijom matematikom (tehnicke skole). Ucenici/e viseg ekonomskog i kulturnog statusa postizu bolji uspjeh iz matematike i cesce biraju srednje skole sa zastupljenijom nastavom matematike. Bolji uspjeh iz matematike najsnaznije predvidaju rod, obrazovanje roditelja, posjedovanje klasicne literature te pristup Internetu. Pri analiziranom odabiru srednje skole, odabir gimnazije je prvenstveno objasnjen kulturnim resursima obitelji ucenika/ca, dok je odabir tehnicke skole vise objasnjen rodom ucenika/ce. Dobiveni nalazi o rodnoj i socijalnoj diferencijaciji u skladu su s nalazima istrazivanja u drugim zemljama. Kljucne rijeci: socioekonomski status, sociokulturni status, ucenici osmih razreda, uspjeh iz matematike, izbor srednje skole.