The preparatory course serves as an introduction to elementary school mathematics. Topics include pages on visual perception, comparing and classifying, recognizing and continuing sequences, one-to-one correspondence, and number understanding. Areas such as concentration, memory performance, and endurance are also practiced through the work in the preparatory course. The course can largely be completed independently by the children and is designed to promote basic competencies. The content areas related to basic competencies have now been structured in a tiered manner in the revised version - the topics can also be applied across different areas.