Influence of assessment frequency on final exam results Natascha van Hattum-Janssen 1 , Rosa Maria Vasconcelos 1 & Estelita Vaz 2 natascha@eng.uminho.pt , rosa@eng.uminho.pt , evaz@eng.uminho.pt 1 Council of Engineering Courses; 2 Department of Mathematics; University of Minho; 4800 Guimarães, Portugal; Introduction In the first year of every engineering course, mathematics and physics subjects are a substantial part of the curriculum. Looking at the engineering courses given at the University of Minho, around 53% of the credit units a student has to do in the first year consists of mathematics and physics subjects. Every first year engineering student starts with Physics I and II and at the same time Calculus I and II (Análise Matemática in Portuguese) and Linear Algebra. These subjects are the core curriculum for the first year of the engineering courses. They provide a foundation for the knowledge and skills that the student acquires during the rest of the course. Bad results on these subjects can cause many problems for the students later on in their course. When a student faces difficulties with mathematics and physics subjects, problems with other subjects are inevitable. Bad results on some of the first year mathematics subjects caused alarm at the courses of the Engineering Council of the University of Minho in Guimarães. Análise Matemática I is the first mathematics subject for every engineering student. The success rate of Análise Matemática I in 1997/98 varied from 13 to 25% in the different engineering courses, looking at the number of students that is registered for the subject. This is far below the desired success rate, which should be at least around 60%. The bad results cause problems like overcrowded classroom, overcrowded exam rooms, not enough teachers and serious delays in the progress of students. A study was done to find possible causes of the bad results. This study indicated that there were several reasons for the bad results. In the first place, the number of students who attend the compulsory tutorials is low. Secondly, the number of students who actually appear at the exam compared to the total number of registered students is far below 80%. Finally, students who do not attend the exam in the first year in the first exam period tend to postpone the exam for at least a year, though many postpone the exam till their very last year. Students who postpone the exam till