Welcome to the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; we are happy that you chose to study Econometrics and Operations Research (EOR) or Econometrics and Data Science (EDS)!
Over the past years, many students have preceded you and generally they indicate that they had to get used to studying at a university. Compared to high school, the first semester of the study is perceived as substantially more difficult, and the study load is high (especially since there are less contact hours than in high school). It is typically the case that students whose high school math level is up-to-date have an easier time making this transition and therefore they are typically more successful in passing their courses in the first year.
To bridge the gap between high school and university, we set up a self-study preparation programme. It is created by students and professors from EOR and EDS, to ensure that contents align well with the first-year curriculum. The website contains a wealth of exercises (and solutions) on important mathematical topics. It is based on the book "Essential Mathematics for Economic Analysis" by Knut Sydsaeter, Peter Hammond, Arne Strom & Andrés Carvajal. Thus, in case you feel that you could use more practice, we kindly refer you to this book to freshen up or even further expand upon your existing knowledge.
We hope you will enjoy the preparation programme, and we look forward to welcoming you in September at the VU!
Best regards,
Programme Management BSc EOR and BSc EDS
Arantza Estévez-Fernández, Ronald de Vlaming and Sean Telg
* If anything is unclear, please reach out to management.bsceoreds.sbe@vu.nl