At the Universidad de Panamá, the regulation of the admission process is approved by the Academic Council and each faculty can regulate specific admission requirements such as the preparatory courses. From the accreditation process carried out in 2012, the university was recommended to develop regulations regarding the application of the preparatory courses. In the Facultad de Informática, Electrónica y Comunicación of the Centro Regional Universitario de Veraguas, students who aspire to enter the bachelor's degree are offered a preparatory course whose objective is to ensure that students have the minimum skills necessary to face successfully the first programming subjects. However, the high deficiency and drop-out rate during the first year of studies motivate this research, whose purpose is to verify the incidence of the pro-At the Universidad de Panamá, the regulation of the admission process is approved by the Academic Council and each faculty can regulate specific admission requirements such as the preparatory courses. From the accreditation process carried out in 2012, the university was recommended to develop regulations regarding the application of the preparatory courses. In the Facultad de Informática, Electrónica y Comunicación of the Centro Regional Universitario de Veraguas, students who aspire to enter the bachelor's degree are offered a preparatory course whose objective is to ensure that students have the minimum skills necessary to face successfully the first programming subjects. However, the high deficiency and drop-out rate during the first year of studies motivate this research, whose purpose is to verify the incidence of the pro-