The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in the affective characteristics and the learning strategies according to the level of the zone of proximal development(ZPD). The subjects for this study were the eighty 6th-grade students who had the middle rank achievement in mathematics. The ZPD test was administered to these students, and the final forty subjects for this study were selected from the above group on the basis of the results of the ZPD test. They were composed of the twenty students belonging to the 25 percent highest rank group and the twenty students belonging to the 25 percent lowest rank group based on the results of the ZPD test. The former was named the ZPD higher group and the latter was named the ZPD lower group. The measurements were the ZPD test, achievement motivation test, goal expectancy level test, scholastic self-concept test, and learning strategies inventory. The data were analyzed by the t-test. The students\' characteristics were also investigated in the process of the ZPD assessment. The major results of this study were as follows: First, there was the difference in the ZPD between the higher group and the lower group although they had the identical achievement. Second, the children\'s affective characteristics were no significant differences according to the level of the ZPD except for the goal expectancy level. Third, the children\'s learning strategies were no significant differences according to the level of the ZPD. At last, the students\' characteristics observed in the process of ZPD assessment were different between two groups. The higher group exhibited more positive attitude, higher attention, higher task tenacity, and better problem solving strategies than the lower group.