The Experience of Fresher Students in Mathematics Diagnostic Testing

This paper presents the results of a survey of university fresher students into the experience of mathematics diagnostic testing. A large majority of them believe that such tests are well timed and executed and give both students and university staff alike a true position of academic readiness but many students also feel that they were unprepared for their test. The survey also considered the relative familiarity of students with particular mathematical topics. Complex numbers and discrete mathematics appear to be largely unencountered as does the concept of proof but many are aware of mathematical software and its facility to plot graphs.