This paper is part of a research project on the transition to higher education in basic mathematics courses and identifying factors that ease this transition. At the University of Tartu, we offered calculus courses for first-year students from the science and technology faculties in their first semester. Many students drop out of these courses in the first half or fail despite their best efforts. To better understand the reasons behind this issue, we created a questionnaire and asked students to complete it at the end of each course over two years. A total of 684 students responded. This paper analyzes their feedback to examine their difficulties transitioning from secondary to tertiary mathematics, how quickly they adjust to the course, how this adjustment affects their grades, the topics they find challenging to understand, and the materials they use the most. The main goal is to simplify the transition and find more learning tools to help students understand difficult topics better.