Common Mathematical Errors Made by First-Year Students

Abstract

The testing of Mathematical knowledge of first-year students at the beginning of a new school year is quite common in most of universities. It is understood that it aims at identifying the areas that are complicated for the majority of students. The testing of this kind has been carried out since 2000 at Aleksandras Stulginskis University. However, a further analysis on it is not being made due to the short period between the testing and the beginning of lectures or practice. It is only confined to the determination of the number of correct answers. According to the results, students are provided with recommendations regarding the necessity of additional learning. Many years of observation show that, traditionally first-year students have difficulties with solving the tasks related to trigonometric expressions, calculation of percentage and roots. It can be stated that the determination of the number of correct answers is becoming less informative, thus a more detailed qualitative analysis is necessary. This would enable the lecturers to identify the typical errors and to prepare the teaching tools that would satisfy the students’ needs. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the first-year students’ Mathematical preparedness in the beginning of their studies at the university