UC Freshmen Math Failure Rate Doubles, Sparking Preparedness Concerns

The University of California system is grappling with a sharp rise in introductory math course failures among its freshmen, with nearly 18% not passing in the 2025-26 academic year. This figure nearly doubles the 9.2% failure rate recorded in the 2020-21 academic year, raising concerns about student preparedness for higher education.

The data, reported by EdSource, encompasses a range of courses from calculus to preparatory algebra and trigonometry. The increasing failure rate follows the UC system's decision to drop SAT and ACT standardized tests as admission requirements, with the 2020-21 academic year being the last to require them for freshman admission.

Following the test-optional shift, the failure rate climbed to 13% in 2021-22, dipped slightly to 12.6% the next year, and then rose to 15.3% in 2023-24, 14.9% in 2024-25, before reaching its peak of 17.8% in 2025-26.

"California Can’t grade their way out of an education crisis," said Sonja Shaw, a Republican candidate for California state superintendent of public instruction. Shaw attributes the nearly doubled failure rate to the removal of standardized tests, suggesting that many students are entering the university system without mastering fundamental skills.

Failure rates vary significantly across the UC's nine undergraduate campuses. UC Merced reported the highest rate at 36.4% for the 2025-26 academic year, more than double its rate from five years prior. UC Riverside saw its rate jump from approximately 8% to about 20% in the past year, while UC Santa Cruz experienced a rise from around 12% to approximately 19%.

Conversely, UC Santa Barbara had the lowest failure rate at 8.2%. UC Davis, UC Irvine, and UC San Diego reported rates between 16% and 18%. UC Berkeley's rate was around 13%, and UCLA's was approximately 11%.

Joel Hass, a mathematics professor at UC Davis, noted that these results are not surprising and highlight a growing disparity in academic readiness among incoming students. "There is a wider range of interest and preparedness," Hass stated. "We still have a good number of highly qualified students, but also many who are unprepared for college. The preparedness gap between these groups is large."

In response, some university instructors are reportedly offering remedial courses to cover material students should have learned in earlier grades. These findings coincide with state data showing that in 2025-26, only 49.3% of California students met or exceeded English language arts standards and 38.4% achieved math proficiency. While these figures show slight improvement from the previous year, they remain below pre-pandemic levels.

Over 1,400 UC faculty members, primarily from STEM fields, have urged the university system to reinstate SAT or ACT requirements for applicants in science, math, technology, and engineering. They cited "severe" math deficits among incoming students in a June letter, arguing that current admissions practices do not reliably ensure mathematical readiness for STEM majors.

A formal review of standardized testing in admissions is underway, with recommendations to the Board of Regents expected in the fall of 2027. Hass, however, argued that standardized tests like the SAT and ACT can help identify talented students from less-resourced schools who might otherwise be overlooked.

He suggested that some students might benefit from strengthening their academic foundations at community colleges before transferring to a UC campus, rather than being placed in university courses before they are adequately prepared.