Higher order thinking skills (HOTS) is one of important aspects in education. Students with high level of higher order thinking skills tend to be more successful. However, do this phenomenon also happen in the learning of Mathematics? To answer this question, this research aims to study the relationship between HOTS and students' academic performance in Mathematics instruction. The research is conducted by occupying correlation research method on 41 students of mathematics education in university of Papua who had already completed 120 credits. The instrument in a test format for HOTS measurement has two main indicators; the critical thinking skill and creative thinking skill. Students are selected as research subjects, and are asked to do 9 questions of HOTS test in 60 minutes. The holistic rubric is used to assess the higher order thinking skills of students. The results of research show that these two variables have a high value of correlation (r = 0.814) and the regression equation is grade point average = 2,105 + 0,017 HOTS. Both of statistics show that there is a significant relationship between HOTS and students' academic achievement.