The aim of this research are to assess the performance of engineering students when using mathematical competences to solve problems with derivatives, to analyze their difficulties, and to observe which secondary school contents are essential for this purpose. The study is descriptive and exploratory with the use of quantitative methods. The participants are students of three competence-based engineering programs of a Chilean University. According to the diagnostic test, the results show a limited knowledge of secondary education mathematical contents like algebra, the main mathematical functions, and proportional geometry. According the research results the presence of difficulties associated to mathematical thinking processes and the complexity of mathematical objects are also evident. However, everyday problems fantasy context were more appealing for students, who solved most of them correctly. Even though these problems are imaginary, they were formulated using situations that engineering students face every day.