The twenty-first century requires Vocational High School (VHS) graduates to have high-order thinking skills (HOTS). Although HOTS-based learning in VHS has been implemented in Indonesia, the graduates are less creative in complex work. Also, teachers have insufficient knowledge about this learning design. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between learning implementation and planning, specifically focusing on the knowledge of teachers in planning lessons. To measure this knowledge, several aspects were established based on the concept of Anderson and Krathwohl's Taxonomy 2001. The concept was used to measure knowledge, which was categorized into the factual, conceptual, procedural, and meta-cognitive dimensions. To analyze each dimension, critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication were employed as key elements. A quantitative approach with a survey design and a random sample of productive subject teachers was used. Cross-sectional analysis and F-test were applied to the primary data using multiple linear regression. According to the F-test results, planning aspects simultaneously affect the implementation of HOTS-based learning in VHS. This is because the calculated F-value was greater than the table F-value. HOTS-based learning activities can be easily achieved in case the lesson plan has the same basis.