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Students are often found dilemmatic when constructing an integral form of a calculus problem. This is a descriptive-explorative study aiming at investigating college students’ preference for constructing integral form of area-related problem. Data were collected from 63 responses of college students who were taking an Integral Calculus course at a university in Surabaya on an integral problem related to area between curves containing two regions.  Data were analysed by categorizing students’ responses regarding the  succesfulness of responses and preference regarding symbol notations : upper and lower limit, integrand, and variable of integration (dy or dx). The results showed that for the first region, 71% of students could successful to construct integral form, while 24% of them were unsuccesful, and 5% students did not give any responses. Meanwhile, for the second region,  10% of students could successful to construct integral form, while 78% of students unsuccesful, and 13% students did not give any responses  The preference of students in choosing dy or dx as part of integral notation was explained and the students’ misconceptions that arise in constructing the integral notation were also discussed.

integral form, Area-related problem, students’ preference,