Let us understand something. SAT preparation is a thing. That preparation ensures you have reached a basic treshold. I wrote those tests back in 1966 with minimal preparation in Ontario where they were not even important. since then preparation has become a real thing.
Entering any math program without that baseline is a mistake and here is also where talent matters. No even talented teenage couch potato ever got recruited by the NBA. Same problem. It takes both taent and setious application. to compete at this level. The body and mind need to transition.
University entrance should plausibly be restricted to a 1400 combined SAT. and augmented by colledge level preparation for those not meeting this standard. We want the A team and the B team. The fluff merchants stay C team and that is still a majority.
University of California's woke decision to ignore STEM applicants' SAT scores to boost 'equity' backfires with oh-so-predictable consequences, as professors beg for help
Published: 10:59 EDT, 28 May 2026 | Updated: 11:24 EDT, 28 May 2026
The University of California's landmark decision to eliminate standardized testing has now come under scrutiny as professors shed light on the extreme proficiency failures undergraduate students have demonstrated.
Multiple mathematics professors and one law professor at UC Berkeley authored an open letter calling on the university administration to mandate the SAT and ACT for the fall 2027 semester.
More than 600 professors have signed the letter, pushing back on the argument that standardized tests eliminate equity in the application process.
'The SAT/ACT mathematics requirement is not an obstacle to equity; rather, it is a prerequisite for it,' the professors said.
'Failing to measure preparation gaps does not remove barriers; it moves them into the classroom, where they become harder to overcome.'
Standardized tests have been a frequent subject of debate in academia. Those in opposition have argued that students who can afford standardized test preparation and attend well-funded high schools have an advantage over lower-income communities.
In 2020, the Board of Regents unanimously voted to suspend standardized testing requirements through 2024 and eliminate them altogether by 2025.
John A. Pérez, the chair of the board at the time, hailed the decision as an 'incredible step in the right direction.'
Professors at UC Berkeley have argued in an open letter to bring back standardized test requirements
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The University of California eliminated test requirements in 2020 after a significant push from students and advocacy groups that even included a lawsuit
John A. Pérez, the chair of the Board of Regents in 2020, praised the decision to eliminate test score requirements
The decision came after a 2019 lawsuit filed by UC students, the Compton Unified School District and other advocacy groups claimed that college entry tests discriminate against applicants based on their socioeconomic status.
After the Board of Regents voted to phase out the tests, students argued that allowing voluntary submissions did not eliminate the discriminatory practices.
UC later reached a settlement with the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, and the university eliminated standardized tests in the application process.
Six years later, professors have said that the decision, coupled with the impacts of the pandemic, has poorly impacted students.
'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 professors wrote.
Mathematics professors Zvezdelina Stankova, Svetlana Jitomirskaya, John W Lott and Mina Aganagic authored the letter alongside law professor Chris Jay Hoofnagle.
The professors noted that mathematics in particular proved to be a struggle for undergraduates.
The letter noted that at least 20 percent of Berkeley first-semester calculus students showed a lack of proficiency in their exams.
Zvezdelina Stankova argued that returning to the standardized test requirement ensures equity, rather than eliminating it
Mathematics professors Zvezdelina Stankova, Svetlana Jitomirskaya, John W Lott and Mina Aganagic authored the letter alongside law professor Chris Jay Hoofnagl
Five UC Berkeley professors authored the letter, but hundreds have signed it in support
All University of California campuses have been accepting applicants in recent years without considering their standardized test scores, a decision that is now facing intense scrutiny from professors
Stankova argued that standardized tests ensure equity rather than diminish it. She said that in her 30-year teaching career, her 2023 calculus II class stood out as an unprecedented challenge.
'Something had changed drastically. The bottom was taken out, and there were 25 to 30 percent of the students who were in free fall. There was nothing you could do for them. They were just not prepared,' she said, according to the Los Angeles Times.
She noted that she understood the letter would be controversial, but argued that she does not believe reinstating standardized tests will harm diversity or equity.
'I actually see it helping it, because you have right now the lack of SATs hurting the underrepresented minorities,' Stankova argued.
'You give them a ticket, an entrance ticket to a great university system like UC, only that they fail. How is that diversity?'
Advocates for eliminating standardized tests have pointed to the record number of applications UC received in 2021.
The university admitted a record number of students, hailing the class as its largest and most diverse ever.
Administration officials also loosened application requirements that year, following a challenging learning environment brought on by the pandemic, including modifications to deadlines and letter-grade thresholds.
The Board of Regents unanimously voted to eliminate test scores in 2020. The new board has not publicly said whether they will return to the requirement
Over 600 professors across UC campuses from varying disciplines have signed the letter in support of bringing standardized tests back
UC spokesperson Rachel Zaentz told the Daily Mail in a statement, 'In light of concerns raised by UC faculty about student preparedness for undergraduate study, in March I called upon our systemwide faculty Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS) to address timely topics tied to students’ college readiness and UC’s admission process.
'BOARS is in the process of proposing a roadmap of policy work and partnership building with other state and K-12 education leaders in the next academic year and beyond.'
Ahmet Palazoglu, chair of the UC systemwide Academic Senate, said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle that he has heard 'concerns raised by UC faculty about student preparedness for undergraduate study.'
He added that the board 'is in the process of proposing a roadmap of policy work and partnership building with other state and K-12 education leaders in the next academic year and beyond.'
The university stressed that mathematics proficiency has been a challenge due to periods of remote instruction during the pandemic, suggesting that standardized tests were not solely to blame.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the Board of Regents for comment.
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