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 VU summer programme. During the months July and August, you can read up on theory and practice exercises in an interactive way. The summer programme was created by students and professors from EOR and EDS, making sure that topics perfectly align with the first year curriculum. It can be followed for a fee of €26.25. This money is not going to the VU but is required to make use of the external platform SOWISO. The VU has already contributed a large amount to keep the fee as low as possible.