BERKELEY, Kalifornia (PNN) - May 28, 2026 - The University of Kalifornia'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 Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) and Amerika College Testing (ACT) for the fall 2027 semester.
More than six hundred 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 radical Communist chairman of the board at the time, hailed the decision as an incredible step in the right direction.
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 nonexistent 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% of Berkeley first-semester calculus students showed a lack of proficiency in their exams.
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% 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 nonexistent pandemic, including modifications to deadlines and letter-grade thresholds.
UC spokesman 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,” said Zaentz.
