This paper presents our experience in the implementation of a didactic instrument to improve threshold concepts within a Material Science subject, study case: International Exchange students. The objective of the study is to link the background concepts with the evolution in learning process during the course and whether there is a deficient transfer of knowledge impeding it. The focus group includes students in their first or second engineering course, which selected Universitat Politècnica de València for their International Exchange stage. For this purpose, 2 voluntary multiple-choice quizzes were designed for mathematics and chemistry concept checks and taken in class, at the beginning of the 2023-2024 academic course. The learning process was assessed by considering the quiz results and the obtained grades. The results obtained in this experience were further contrasted to similar results obtained for the same subject and university, but for national students. The analysis was further corroborated with the satisfaction survey results. The obtained results in this work helped relating the student motivation, preparedness, and areas of weakness in the learning process by considering the type of student group.

Keywords: Mathematics, chemistry, threshold concept, quiz, international exchange.