The aim of this study is to examine the knowledge students from the secondary school may gain from studying algebra and if this satisfies the requirements of universities. At the start of the first term in university many students in mathematics have major problems with their studies. Therefore most universities offer introductory courses so the students may have a chance to improve their skills in numeracy, calculus and their logical thinking. At Chalmers this kind of course begins with a diagnostically test of 9 problems to be solved in 30 minutes. Every year among 1000 students of the (civil) engineering programs are tested in this way. Therefore there is a good basis of statistics from these results. The process of this study is to choose a number of typical problems in algebra from the diagnostically tests. These problems will be compared with similar problem in the secondary school literature and in the national tests.