Rahul Mehta Gandhinagar LsCandidate

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A UC Berkeley calculus professor says some students are arriving so far behind in math that her office hours meant for integrals are being spent teaching fractions and basic algebra.

Zvezdelina Stankova, a teaching professor of mathematics at UC Berkeley, says the preparation gap has become impossible to ignore. In a recent San Francisco Standard op-ed, she wrote that some students entering her courses appear five to eight years behind in mathematics, requiring instruction in concepts normally learned during middle school.

Diagnostic testing cited by Stankova shows a striking shift.

Between 2018 and 2020, roughly 71% of about 2,200 Berkeley Calculus I students who took an earlier diagnostic were classified as ready or nearly ready for calculus, while only 0.14% tested below basic algebra. A different diagnostic administered from 2021 through 2023 found about 51% ready or nearly ready across those years, falling to 44% in 2023. By that year, 17% of tested students passed none of the eight mathematical topics assessed.

That distinction matters: the often-repeated claim that readiness simply fell directly from 71% to 44% compares different diagnostic systems and different time periods, so it is not a perfect apples-to-apples measurement. Even so, Berkeley's own reporting says that in fall 2023, 31% of participating Calculus I students passed only zero to two diagnostic topics; of that group, 46% later withdrew or received a D or F.

Stankova and other UC faculty argue that the problem became harder to detect after the University of California stopped considering SAT and ACT scores in admissions. UC's Board of Regents began changing the policy in 2020, and today the system remains test-free: SAT and ACT scores are not considered in admissions decisions.

The concern has grown far beyond one professor.

UC mathematics and STEM faculty signed an open letter calling for SAT or ACT math scores to again be required for applicants to STEM-intensive majors. The letter states that for three consecutive years, 20%–30% of participating Berkeley first-semester calculus students showed severe preparation deficits, and says instructors are increasingly having to reteach middle-school mathematics alongside university STEM material.

But the cause remains disputed.

Stankova and other testing advocates argue that removing a common standardized benchmark made it harder for admissions officers to identify serious preparation gaps. Critics counter that SAT and ACT performance is strongly influenced by socioeconomic circumstances and that high-school GPA can be a stronger predictor of college performance. UC has also previously reported that first-year retention remained high after moving to test-free admissions.

So the data show a genuine math-readiness problem, but they do not by themselves prove that eliminating the SAT and ACT caused it. Pandemic learning loss, differences in K–12 preparation, grade inflation and changes in who takes diagnostic tests could also contribute. Even Stankova acknowledges that multiple factors are involved.

What is difficult to ignore is the classroom reality described by faculty: at one of America's leading universities, some calculus instructors say they are increasingly spending time rebuilding mathematical foundations students were expected to master years earlier.

Source: Zvezdelina Stankova, “I teach calculus at Berkeley. Some of my students can’t do middle school math,” The San Francisco Standard (2026); UC Berkeley Letters & Science; University of California; UC STEM Faculty Open Letter.