US EditionStudents at California University without 8th grade math skills skyrockets
UC San Diego reports one in eight incoming students now lacks middle school math skills, linked to pandemic disruptions, grade inflation, and increased admissions from under-resourced schools.
- A sharp rise was seen in students entering the University of California system without middle school-level math skills, with 18% of first-year students at UCSD placing below Algebra 1 in 2025.
- The increase was linked to pandemic learning disruptions, inequities in California's K-12 system, and elimination of standardized testing requirements for UC admissions.
- Over 900 UCSD students required Math 2, a course focused on elementary and middle school math, making UCSD the only UC campus offering such remediation.
19 Articles
19 Articles
Editorial | Lower expectations, lower skills for UC students
Uh oh. Many freshmen at a top University of California campus can’t manage to do middle-school math. An analysis by a joint faculty-administration committee on student preparation at UC San Diego – which ranks sixth in the U.S. News & World Report annual rankings of the nation’s top public universities – shows an alarming decline in academic rigor and standards. “Over the past five years, UC San Diego has experienced a steep decline in the acade…
Thanks to the Woke Math Movement, Some Freshmen at UCSD Can’t Do Grade Level Math
A new report from the University of California, San Diego has ignited a viral conversation on social media, because it demonstrates the alarming lack of preparation among incoming freshmen for college level math courses. Produced by UCSD’s Senate–Administration Working Group on Admissions, the report found the university “has experienced a steep decline in the academic preparation of its entering first-year students—particularly in mathematics.”…
Stunning report on unprepared UCSD students points to larger problem
UC San Diego’s emergence over the past 30 years as one of the world’s great universities — full of talented professors and students — has been heartening to witness for longtime residents and massively beneficial to the regional economy. That’s why it is so jarring to read a lengthy new report from UCSD’s Senate-Administration Working Group on Admissions that says many students can’t answer simple math questions. “Between 2020 and 2025, the numb…
A Sad Collapse in Student Preparation at UC San Diego Was Inevitable
When professors at one of the nation’s top public universities start warning that their students can’t do middle-school math or write a coherent paragraph, the rest of us should pay attention. A new faculty report from the University of California–San Diego describes a “steep decline in the academic preparation” of entering freshmen. Between 2020 and 2025, the number of UCSD students whose math skills fall below middle-school level increased nea…
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