Tackling the difficulties of the transition from school to university mathematics

This paper reports on a study that investigates the difficulties encountered by first year undergraduate mathematics students during their transition from school to university mathematics. The research is a case study of five students who were followed regularly from the beginning until the end of the semester through questionnaires and interviews while they were attending a Calculus course. The results of the research revealed difficulties faced by undergraduate students regarding the content of the module and the social and academic context. In addition, the research suggests a categorization according to the approaches that students adopted in order to tackle these problems