The Supplementary Education of Physics for Incoming STEM Students - Force Concept Inventory During Years 2020-2022

This article highlights the role of supplementary education for incoming university students, particularly those entering their first year. Over the past eight years, our university has observed significant gaps in the foundational knowledge of mathematics and physics among new students. To address this issue, we introduced preparatory courses in Mathematics and Physics before the start of the academic year. These courses, initially offered to students voluntarily, aim to fill knowledge gaps and enhance students' understanding. The preparatory courses are open to students from any faculty at the University of Žilina (UNIZA). The Physics course covered essential topics such as physics units, kinematics, dynamics, gravity, and molecular physics, with twenty lessons per week. From 2016 to 2022, we consistently evaluated students' physics knowledge before and after the preparatory course using the standardized Force Concept Inventory (FCI) test. The results indicate that participating in the Summer Course in Physics before the winter semester significantly contributes to students' success in their university studies.