University of California professors are sounding the alarm on a “severe” lack of math skills among college students — thanks to a decision to ban standardized testing in admissions at the elite universities.
More than 500 professors signed an open letter saying they’ve been forced to teach “middle school” math in Calculus and other courses as incoming students are alarmingly unprepared for college-level coursework.
“We now observe preparation gaps so severe that instructors must re-teach middle school mathematics while simultaneously teaching the material students need for sciences, engineering, economics and other quantitatively demanding fields,” the letter read.
“Furthermore, the widening spread between underprepared and well-prepared students creates polarized courses, weakening the foundation available to many students and making it harder to teach at the level required for advanced STEM work,” the professors continued.
“UC is increasingly unable to provide students with the education needed to become leaders in California’s scientific, technological and economic future.”
The letter was jointly authored by UC Berkeley professors Zvezdelina Stankova, Svetlana Jitomirskaya, John W Lott, and Mina Aganagic, all in the mathematics department; and Chris Jay Hoofnagle, a professor of law.
More than 440 professors across the University of California system signed the letter calling upon the Board of Regents to reinstate standardized testing requirements, which was first circulated Sunday evening.
The professors blamed a 2020 vote by the University of California Board of Regents to stop requiring SAT and ACT scores in admissions after lawyers representing low-income students argued the metrics were “racist.”
The system had been placed under a court injunction after rejected students sued, claiming the standardized tests unfairly privileged wealthier students with access to test prep that other students cannot afford.
Starting in the fall of 2021, University of California hopefuls have not been asked to submit SAT or ACT scores, though they can still submit the scores voluntarily.
UC Board of Regents Chair John A. Pérez hailed the move as an “incredible step in the right direction toward aligning our admissions policy with the broad-based values of the University” in May 2020, when the vote was taken.
Critics have pointed to damaging consequences for the prestigious university system, which serves more than 280,000 students statewide and receives approximately $5 billion from the state budget to support its operations.
Last year, The UC San Diego Senate-Administration Working Group released a shocking report that found a 30-fold increase in students who lacked basic math skills.
Just 30 of the school’s incoming freshmen had below-high-school-level math skills in 2020. In 2025, that number rose to 900, the report found.
One in 12 college freshmen were unable to even do middle school math, per the UC San Diego report.
The professors argued in the open letter that standardized testing “is not an obstacle to equity; rather, it is a prerequisite for it.”
Brushing preparation gaps under the rug harms both students and the University of California system, the letter claimed.
The professors asked the Board of Regents to resume the use of standardized testing as a “common measure of basic readiness.”
The Board of Regents did not immediately respond to a request for comment.