The article deals with the issue of specifying the types of activities to teach students to prepare them for solving typical professional tasks in their future practical activities. The requirements tothe goals of professional activities are stated. The notion of “typical professional task” is described. The “mechanisms” of choosing the typical professional tasks and general methods to solve them are developed and described. In the learning process the students master the techniques to solve the tasksfor economists and Physics teachers; the examples are given in the article.