By Douglas Belkin
More than 1,100 University of California math and science professors are urging UC regents to reinstate college-entrance exams, arguing that unprepared students are lowering academic standards and draining teaching resources.
The request, delivered in a two-page letter last week, cites a sharp decline in readiness among students studying science, technology, engineering and math. Nearly one-third of students taking first-semester calculus at UC Berkeley "displayed severe preparation deficits," the letter said.
"We now observe preparation gaps so severe that instructors must reteach middle-school mathematics while simultaneously teaching the material students need for sciences, engineering, economics, and other quantitatively demanding fields," the faculty wrote. "UC has finite resources and can help only so many students."
The letter follows a University of California, San Diego, faculty report last year saying that the number of students placed in classes to remediate elementary and middle school math before they could take precalculus increased to 8.5% from 0.5% between 2020 and 2025.
Critics have long argued that college-entrance tests such as the SAT and ACT limit opportunity for Black, Hispanic and poor students. More schools were making the exams optional or getting rid of them altogether when the pandemic accelerated that trend, said Harry Feder, executive director of FairTest, which advocates against the exams.
Today, more than 90% of schools don't mandate the exams, Feder said.
The University of California stopped requiring an ACT or SAT score in 2020. At the time, some faculty warned the move would make it harder to assess applicants, especially alongside rampant high school grade inflation.
More recently, schools have been re-tightening test mandates. In 2022, Massachusetts Institute of Technology reinstated the SAT requirement, saying it helps determine applicants' preparedness as well as identify promising students from disadvantaged backgrounds. In 2024, Dartmouth College restored the test requirement.
Yale University followed suit last week. Yale went test optional in 2020, then four years later mandated students submit a score from the SAT, ACT, International Baccalaureate or Advanced Placement exams. Now they must submit either an SAT or ACT score. Plenty of students had been doing so anyway: 90% of Yale's class of 2029 submitted either the SAT or ACT.
Schools in the University of California system, on the other hand, generally don't take scores into account or collect testing data because the admission process is "test free."
"SAT and ACT scores are not used in admissions decisions," according to the UCLA website geared to prospective students. The school urges students to use the time they would have spent on test prep studying for classes, participating in extracurricular activities and writing great essays.
In their open letter, UC math faculty explain that students' knowledge deficits have made it harder to teach at the level required for advanced STEM work. The professors warned these problems would ultimately hurt the state's tech economy.
"We are already seeing the warning signs: longer pathways through prerequisite material, reduced readiness for advanced coursework, and growing pressure to dilute quantitative rigor," the faculty wrote. "Left unaddressed, these trends will lead to declining graduation rates, longer time to degree, and reduced completion of STEM majors, with consequences for California's highly skilled STEM workforce."
UC Academic Senate Chair Ahmet Palazoglu said the body is examining UC admission policies and requirements.
Write to Douglas Belkin at Doug.Belkin@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 01, 2026 20:00 ET (00:00 GMT)
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