UC Berkeley Professor: Test-Blind Admissions Leave Calculus Students Struggling With Fractions
A UC Berkeley math professor says test-blind admissions have left many calculus students with severe math deficits, renewing debate over SAT/ACT requirements.
A prominent University of California, Berkeley mathematics professor has ignited a debate about the university's admissions approach, stating that some students enrolled in college-level calculus are significantly underprepared and require remedial instruction in fundamental concepts.
Zvezdelina Stankova, who also founded the Berkeley Math Circle, wrote in a recent op-ed that certain students are "five to eight years behind in mathematics." She described office hours intended for discussing calculus topics like integrals as often turning into lessons on fractions and basic algebra.
Stankova attributed this trend to the campus's test-blind admissions policy, which she argued has made the evaluation process "less like careful evaluation and more like chance." She warned that this situation has turned one of America's most prestigious public universities into "a laughing stock."
To support her claims, Stankova cited data from a diagnostic exam given to Calculus 1 students. Before the policy change in 2020, 71 percent of test-takers were deemed "ready or nearly ready" for calculus, with only 0.14 percent testing below basic algebra levels between 2018 and 2020.
However, after UC Berkeley adopted its test-blind policy, the share of students considered ready dropped to 44 percent between 2021 and 2023. By the 2022-23 academic year, more than one-third of calculus students exhibited "severe math deficits," with zero being the most common score on the diagnostic exam.
The shift away from standardized testing began in 2020 when the then-UC system president overruled a task force that had recommended keeping the exams, citing pandemic disruptions and equity concerns. A subsequent court ruling required the UC system to remain test-blind through 2025.
Stankova noted that while peer institutions like Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and Yale have reinstated testing requirements after their pandemic-era suspensions, UC has "moved in the opposite direction," with no new admissions policy set before fall 2028.
She is among thousands of faculty members who earlier this year signed open letters calling for the restoration of the SAT and ACT in admissions to ensure that academically prepared students are admitted.