mad_jock, you have taken my comment completely the wrong way.
You have to make allowances for the modern school output. At my university we put a LOT of effort into additional Maths lectures and tutorials to bring the first year Aero (and other engineering) students up to a workable standard before things get much tougher in year 2 - even the old "grey-beards" like myself realise why we all have to work MUCH harder these days.