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Posted on 10/23/2026 5:27:20 PM PDT by george76
Percentage has doubled since 2020-21..
Nearly one in five freshmen at the University of California are flunking introductory math classes amid widespread calls from faculty to reinstate standardized testing requirements for admissions.
About 18 percent of students either withdrew or received a D or F grade during the 2025-26 school year. This share has nearly doubled from 2020-21, “the last year that the SAT and ACT were required for first-year admission,” .
Further, UC students averaged a GPA of 2.7 in introductory math classes in 2025-26. Students averaged a 3.18 in 2020-21.
However, “Failure rates vary widely across UC’s nine undergraduate campuses, skyrocketing at some while remaining mostly flat at others,” .
UC Merced showed the highest failure or withdrawal rate at 36 percent, while UC Santa Barbara recorded the lowest, at just 8.2 percent.
...
Dropping the SAT and ACT has let far too many students arrive unprepared for even introductory math
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Further demonstrating this crisis, a University of California Berkeley professor wrote in a recent op-ed that students don’t know how to work with elementary-level fractions
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Office hours that should be spent discussing integrals instead become lessons on fractions and basic algebra you would expect students to learn in middle school
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What, specifically, is “Introductory Math”? Algebra II? Group Theory?
RE: withdrew or received a D or F grade
To the D student.
Dean Wormer: Congratulations. You’re at the top of the class.
“ What, specifically, is “Introductory Math”? Algebra II? Group Theory?”
I tried to look this up, but AI (?) informed me that there were various levels of classes that seemed like calculus. I do not believe this is the introductory math class at any state university.
It’s dumbbell math. I had to take it and barely passed
For me (engineering) it was Calculus 1. IIRC I got straight As.
You are in a room with 12 other people. You introduce each of them to each other individually. How many introductions did you have to make?
Of course, for engineering and other STEM majors it will be calculus, but most people are not majoring in these areas. If the lowest level math class in the California university system actually is calculus, it is understandable that there is a high level of failure. Many students who take AP calculus in high school but either do not do well on the AP test, do not take the AP test at all, or lack the confidence to move on to the next level, repeat the class in college. Freshman who are in a calculus class where half of the students have already taken calculus in high school often have a very difficult time because the classroom experience might not be the best since half the students have already seen all the material.
Look, the baccalaureate program is for 5% of the population, not 50% or 60%.
My grandma taught in NYC Public for 55 years. Whenever she heard about some scheme to move everybody to high school and then college, she would shrug and say, “Well, somebody’s got to clean the subways”.
Grandma RIP was a smart cookie.
Introduction to College Mathematics (4)
A highly adaptive course designed to build on students’ strengths while increasing overall mathematical understanding and skill. This multi-modality course will focus on several topics of study designed to develop conceptual understanding and mathematical relevance: linear relationships; exponents and polynomials; rational expressions and equations; models of quadratic and polynomial functions and radical equations; exponential and logarithmic functions; and geometry and trigonometry. Workload credit only—not for baccalaureate credit. Must be taken for P/NP grading. May be repeated nine times for credit. Prerequisites: Math Placement Exam qualifying score.
Good one. 12x11/2?
The description sounds a lot like Algebra.
Should not be needed in college unless you are a non-traditional student (AKA some old dude who hasn't been in a class room for at least ten years) and need to brush up on the basics.
My Japanese son-in-law has a M.D. in Mathematics and teaches high school here in Japan . My daughter is a high school English teacher . I hated Algebra in HS and and quit Geometry . I’m a genius at basic math and can do figures faster in me head than my wife can do on her phone hehe ...Within reason mind you .
“Should not be needed in college unless you are a non-traditional student (AKA some old dude who hasn’t been in a class room for at least ten years) and need to brush up on the basics.”
Or someone who is legitimately dyslexic and couldn’t keep numbers straight to save their their soul.
They will not show you the tips and tricks you need to cope. That will be a whole other skill set.
Not coordinated enough to drive a manual transmission car or smart enough fix a broken lamp......TOO!
I was in university back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and Jimmy Carter was president. I developed various coping skills. But part of it was getting some help.
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