According to Piaget, formal operations means one�s ability to perform mental operations with abstract, intangible concepts such as justice or poverty or mankind and be in a position to provide a satisfactory explanation. The focus of this investigation was to assess combinatorial reasoning in formal operations as it obtains among secondary school students in Tanzania. The sample comprised 120 boys and girls selected from four secondary schools in Tanzania, who were administered a questionnaire on combinatorial reasoning. The results showed that the majority of participants were still at concrete operations and transitional stage. There were only 17.5% participants who a mastery of combinatorial reasoning, thus confirming the notion that only a small portion of adolescents are capable of operating at the formal operations stage. Such finding challenges the universality of Piaget�s theory of cognitive development

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