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NEW: UC San Diego has released a new report documenting a “steep decline in the academic preparedness” of its freshmen. The number of entering students needing remedial math has exploded from 1/100 to 1/8. They’ve had to create a second remedial class covering elementary and middle school math skills in addition to the one covering gaps from high school.

Bar graph titled Top 30 Growth of the Math 2 Population by Major 2019-2024 displays upward trends in student numbers for various fields from 2020 to 2024. Fields include International Studies in blue, Cognitive Science in orange, Public Health in green, Real Estate Development in purple, Aerospace Engineering in yellow, Chemistry in red, Economics in teal, and Mathematics in light blue among others. X-axis shows years 2020 to 2024, Y-axis counts from 0 to 600 students.

6:05 AM · Nov 11, 2025

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Steve McGuire

@sfmcguire79

17h

The report also shows that nearly 1/5 students fail to meeting entry level writing requirements.

“This deterioration coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on education, the elimination of standardized testing, grade inflation, and the expansion of admissions from under-resourced high schools.”

The report focuses on the decline of math skills in particular. They recently tested a group of their students. Here are the percentages of students who correctly answered questions at each grade level:

As mentioned, they had to create a second remedial class. They explain: “While Math 2 was designed in 2016 to remediate missing high school math knowledge, now most students had knowledge gaps that went back much further, to middle and even elementary school. To address the

This chart documents the increasing number of students placed in remedial math (math 2 and math 3b):

Why is this happening? One reason is pandemic learning loss:

Another reason is the elimination of standardized test requirements coupled with high school grade inflation:

As a major cause at UCSD in particular, they point to a significant increase in students admitted from “Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF)” schools, which are “California public schools in which more than 75 percent of the school's total enrollment is composed of students who

Enrollment from these schools has increased system-wide and especially at UCSD:

“Table 6 shows that UC San Diego has had more than double the LCFF+ enrollment percentages compared to all other campuses during 2022-2024, except for UC Riverside (which still trails UC San Diego) and UC Merced (which leads UC San Diego by a few percentage points). The first

Students from these LCFF+ schools make up a large chunk of those students needing remedial classes:

This is a damning report of the state of admissions at UCSD. The report makes clear that the situation is straining resources and making it difficult for the university to serve its mission and its students:

To be clear, this isn’t all UCSD’s fault, and it looks like the faculty have been doing what they can to address the issues but they can’t sustain it. The math department and the report’s authors deserve a lot of credit for documenting the issues. Link: senate.ucsd.edu/media/740347/s

This is happening at every college in America, elite or not.

I have no doubt.

Is this because of change in college admissions or change in high school quality?

Looks like both

Believe me, the lack of rigor is a problem for medical education as well

I believe you!

John W. Ayers | Computational Epidemiologist

@JohnWAyersPhD

13h

You forgot to mention that UCSD had 134k applicants and accepted about 7k last year. Instead of remedial instruction they should just do a better job of filtering talent. That is the problem here. As a UCSD faculty member I have never hired a student who required remedial

6.9K

Steve Sailer

@Steve_Sailer

For a deep dive into what UC San Diego was doing to admit Hispanics at the expense of Asians without technically violating California voters' 2020 ban on racial quotas, see my 2023 article "Low Grade Fever:"

takimag.com

Low-Grade Fever

Last week, millions of college acceptances and rejections were sent out to high ...

Seems like a post-COVID thing - I wonder if it starts reverting towards baseline in future years.

And yet parents will defend to their dying breath giving their children smartphones and tablets

Well... SAT drop in 2020

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Petri Kuittinen

@KuittinenPetri

University of California, San Diego is considered to be among the top universities of California, especially in STEM topics. How is this possible as the average quality of the students for such top university should remain high?

169

Brownian Motion

@cobrownell

UCSD in particular recently announced that admissions into engineering, comp sci, and biological sciences would preferentially go to poor or first-generation applicants.

430

Holtz

@Biorealism

They did remove barriers for "underserved students" though.

Yeah, my experience at non-UCSD universities jibes with this too. The difference in skills even between 19 yo’s in 2021 and 19 yo’s in 2025 feels like an ability gap of at least 5-6 years, all else equal. Only going to get worse if secondary schools force AI adoption.

Who saw that coming?

When you take away standardized tests (SAT/ACT), you are relying on high school grades to determine student preparedness. These grades are no longer dependable - looks like it is time to go back to testing.

GIF

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rube heretic

@RubeHeretic

Are these remedial students on a par with the other (nonremedial) students by the end of freshman (or ____) year?

My senior is an over 4.0, huge volunteer hours and two sport athlete from college prep high school. They don’t want him. He will apply and we know he will get rejected from ucla, ucsd, cal, ucsb and Davis. My kid is ready. So he will go out of state.

Matt Quan

@matthewrquan

The UCs already did this through Eligibility in the Local Context (ELC) for Fall 2001 (application Fall 2000) to bypass Prop 209 (1996). Most districts are LCFF (not basic aid). What UC is illegally tracking/codifying especially at UCSD is Race. 1/2

Quote

Steve McGuire

@sfmcguire79

17h

Replying to @sfmcguire79

Enrollment from these schools has increased system-wide and especially at UCSD:

Why are UCs admitting people who need remedial classes, instead of telling them to take these at community college?

Why is a remedial math class called Math 2? How easy is Math 1? Is it like Jasmine Crockett level? Seriously people?

explained why

Ironically, if we want to stop failing students, we need to start failing them. Bring back the hard F. It’s harsh, but it’s the only way. If you can’t give a student an F, then A’s are meaningless. And at some point, we have to stop blaming everything on Covid. There have to be

It's a new dawn

@u_believethat

14h

It’s absurd to offer remedial classes covering middle school math to STEM majors. Math isn’t a set of formulas you memorize, it’s a way of thinking developed over years. If someone can’t handle basic algebra or fractions, they shouldn’t be in a STEM field. Transfer them to

Whatever could be the problem?

Darrell Root

@DarrellRoot

11h

A fraction of the money spent on the Education Department should have just bought a national license for the Saxon Math curriculum Every day students do several of these: some with help, some without help. They start easy and get gradually more difficult for 6-8 years.

Anyone else find it amazing that 5 math majors needed remedial math?

The UC Systems was originally designed to be a three tier system. The UCs were supposed to be premier research institutions, the Ivies of the west. The CSU System was supposed to serve as the backbone, good state schools that were much closer to many students. The CCCs provided

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@asxyzp

Sometimes, I think that the American system is lame. Almost everywhere else in the world, one needs to cover fundamentals & pass some national standardized test before entering the college, which is why there are remedial classes for elementary school math in UK, India or China.

Tell me more about the 5 math majors in math 2.

I'm sorry, exactly how are they getting admitted with those skills? UCSD used to be highly competitive

7.5K

Beanie

@Beanie0597

So, are you telling me that 90% graduation rates don’t equate to 90% of students actually being prepared for what comes after graduation? Shocker!

This is insane. My daughter just spoke with a UCSD admissions rep at a college fair. Their average entering GPA last year was over 4.1 weighted. Seems that a lot of grades are inflated bs if these students need remedial math.

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HumeHealth

@myhumehealth

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It's related to their "holistic" admissions criteria. My 4.2 GPA students don't get in but their criteria includes: "...accomplishments in light of your life experiences, including: low family income, first gen to attend college, need to work, disadvantaged social environment..."

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Professor Eric Rasmusen

@erasmuse

Do note that only about 600 of maybe 3000 (?) freshmen per year take that course.

UC banned kids from submitting SAT scores to be "equitable." This is the idiotic dumbing down of standards and everyone knows it. If these kids can't do basic math - they are just as bad at reading and writing and they don't belong at UC San Diego.

This explains their enrollment calculations to require bulldozing Bay Park for their "transit oriented housing" project...

Don't trust

@UCSD

on math or economics... you've been warned.

1.4K

Ananda Sangeetam

@anuswaram

Are there any concomitant surveys on teacher effectiveness?

Err… mathematics majors require remedial mathematics?! Also, Structural and Mechanical Engineering majors made the list as well? Wtf?

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The Civil Heretic

@ddtmatter

The average amount spent per student in the U.S. is $16,500. That's the average tuition rate per year at a mid-tier international school in many countries. Yet those schools far outperform ours, often exceeding not just U.S. averages, but also global averages. (That includes the

My daughter is in AP Calculus and gets As in Math, but she won’t be admitted to UCSD because she doesn’t check the right boxes. Nobody knows or understands who gets admitted to UC schools anymore.

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josephGenesis37-50

@19JGCE73

Glad that UCSD is transparent regarding this. This is not just UCSD. It’s across all major institutions.

Soccer Thoughts

@_SoccerThoughts

Hold up, who are those math majors that are starting from the bottom. Bold strategy.

DoctorBrydon

@CesareBorgiaRed

There are people that have been accepted into a university for a Mathematics degree that have to do remedial maths? How does that work?

This also has a direct impact on those kids that ARE prepared for advanced math classes (ahem homeschooled kids) due to the lack of advanced class choices to fit into your schedule and classes that aren’t even offered in ‘off’ semesters. Example, trying to take calculus II in

The final results of Common Core math. Many parents were shouting from the rooftops, but too many were complacent, so it fell on deaf ears. If you didn't homeschool over the last decade, then your kids are deficient in math. Just facts 🤷🏼‍♀️

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Jeff Johnson

@echo5juliet

Maybe overly aggressive school closures during COVID and covering up the debacle by passing students in grade-level schools regardless of skills or demonstrated learning might have something to do with it

Sure is an amazing coincidence this happened when they got rid of standardized tests for admissions. What are the odds?

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Danger Casey

@CaseySoftware

Happening in top tier engineering schools too..

Quote

Danger Casey

@CaseySoftware

Dec 26, 2024

Replying to @CaseySoftware and @Oilfield_Rando

So they had to add pre-calc because "some didn't have the chance to take it in hs" But Physics is calc-based so they had to add a non-calc one But even before that, people had poor writing skills so they added a remedial Freshman Comp 13 of 16 credits first term: remedial

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Marcel Kasumovich

@MarcelKasumovic

Perhaps “the steep decline in standards of UC San Diego applicant acceptance.”

Is there data on transfer students? As a CC transfer myself there is NO way you can even apply if you don’t follow the IGETC schedule which requires at least Calc2 and advanced English for even a humanities major

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KayBeeBrownBrown

@kbbcubed

"Oh, you teach college math?" They say with glazed eyes. "No. I teach junior high math to college students...."

Roli Bosch

@rolibosch

How are you getting into flagship state universities if you need remedial math? Is there something I’m missing? Am I too old at 28 to understand the current system or something?

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Darwin's Money

@EverydayFinance

UC San Diego does not require SAT or ACT scores for undergraduate admission and is officially “test-blind.”

Jakob McWhinney

@JakobMcwhinney

I’d been hearing a lot about grade inflation at San Diego Unified so last year, I compared grades at dist. high schools to test scores. I found massive gaps. The % of kids passing classes was up to 71% higher than the those meeting state standards. voiceofsandiego.org/2024/06/11/san

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Lindsey Wall

@lindseyewall

I recently saw admissions stat from high Schools to UCs from sf chronicle. I noticed the difference in admission rates favoring lower income schools vs more affluent and now I understand why. Thanks for this write up.’

Jamie Cope

@copeasetic

Thanks Covid… these are the kids stuck in the bedrooms and not in the classroom. It’s had a huge impact on learning.

I’m only confused about this as a stepping stone to calculus bc humanities majors don’t need Calc…their math requirements are minimal.. So the 1/8 who need remedial help are students who aspire to a bachelor of science degree?

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Priyam Mazumdar

@data_adventurer

“You wasted $150,000 on an education you coulda got for $1.50 in late fees at the public library” Somehow this becomes more and more relevant every year

stanion

@greenstanion

11h

They didn't want my daughter with her high SAT and IQ scores. She did get into places that filter by SAT, and so is surrounded by smart people, which is a better outcome.

284

Smart Financial Tips

@SmartDollarTip

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5.5K

Highbase

@Highbase2020

Part of the reason college grads are having difficulties getting hired. They think they’re qualified because of a fancy degree that’s been watered down, and the real world exposes it.

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Magnum1ooo

@Magnum1ooo

It is NO SURPRISE that preparedness collapsed about 12 years after the smart phone was introduced in society. Give every student a handheld social media and gaming system to stare at all day and you wonder why they don't learn anything.

AND IT'S WORSE THAN YOU THINK -

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David A Thigpen

@david_a_thigpen

Common core started in 2010. Do you think that had anything to do with it?

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FirstCitizenTrent

@adam1trent

Crazy how gov money has screwed that up. Only solution is more gov money, obviously.

Andrea

@Anvesaka88

11h

Someone please reconcile this with the number of kids who are getting turned down with 1500+ SAT scores, AP classes, and straight As.

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Anni

@anni_sen

I have first hand experience of how political the UCs have become after Covid when they neglected SAT scores and tried to democratize merit. Many talented students have been hurt, more imp, the UCs itself are now a subpar institution.

How are these kids even getting admitted?

Where are the school administrators and teachers whose pay depends on academic readiness, at least in part? I know that it is also a problem with poor and disengaged parents. But if the schools were morally courageous and held to their standards, unsupportive parents would be

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blswan

@bls0077

The worst. My son had perfect gpa with 1520 sat score. All league varsity baseball player. 780 on math portion. Wait listed.

Steven Walk

@realStevenWalk

WTF?!?? When I was a kid, all the UC schools were considered good, but UCSD was considered as good as any other than Berkeley and UCLA. What the hell did UCSD do to their student body?

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V. Virgilio

@tripvvire

And yet the rumor was that the UC's were getting more selective, at least in engineering. Doesn't comport.

Alex Choi

@heyalexchoi

> elimination of standardized test requirements Well there you go

Matthew FL

@matthewfl

A secondary consequence of this is that after a 4 year bachelor degree students haven't had time to complete as many advanced classes compared to the pre-covid graduates. They still get a degree as they completed the number of units required.

As we say in programming, "Garbage in, Garbage out".

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Christian Lindke

@ChristianLindke

If students in 2016 needed remediation in mathematics, then this decline aligns with the introduction of Common Core in 2009.

1.2K

LeftRightOut

@XpatAussie

Those kids were locked at home instead of doing AP Calculus

Mnal2025

@NaldaMarty

My college age kids tutor for the local community college and say they keep getting worse every semester. One this term didn’t understand the concept of multiplication.

248

Fuschia Virtuoso

@JamesAtTomorrow

I train college students during internships in a stem company. It's not my primary role, I do it voluntarily because I like to give young people a chance like I had. The quality of students severely declined since COVID. There are no other variables that seem to explain it.

Colleges have finally figured out students are ATMs, and admitting as many as possible, regardless of capability, is great for business.

I attended UCSD starting in 1998. My peers were brilliant. I started as basically a sophomore due to AP credits and only had to take a few first-year classes. I did not know one student who had to take these classes. Lowering admission standards benefits NO ONE! I felt so

849

Renee

@eeners

The scariest part is there are a lot of engineering students needing assistance. That’s nuts and really scary.

Nonya business

@SweetReleased

Plenty of prepared students are ready to take these slots but they choose ones who are not.

Ana Garner

@garner_ana4209

So... college is now the completion of middle and high school? How far we've dropped.... The movie "Idiocracy" is coming true now

D. Bruce Crawford

@BruceD48698

This regrettable trend has been developing for 30+ years. In the mid-‘90s, Prof. David Drew published “Aptitude Revisted”. When he wrote it, he was at UTEP, but by time it was published, he was at Cal Poly, Pomona, maybe as Math Dept. head. At UTEP, his grad student who proctored

282

Reynolds Cameron 金马龙雷牛

@reynoldscameron

What? Eliminating standardized tests and rigorous high school coursework in the name of DEI for admission criteria caused reduced student quality? Whodathunkit

Trott

@__trott__

13h

This comes as no surprise to parents who have watched their children suffer through common core math.

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SoAZdan

@so5994

That shows the priority of colleges - quantity over quality. The remedial classes wouldn't be needed if their admissions standards were high enough, but they want the enrollment numbers up for the big bucks they bring in.

Or…they could start imposing a ceiling, and then DECREASING the number of remedial students accepted until it goes to zero. Require graduating from high schools and elementary schools to mean something. Otherwise, the end point is that people graduating from college are

Common Core/Bill Gates. Failure by design. Kids not memorizing basic facts so they can do the advanced algebra and higher levels efficiently. I had sixth graders trying to count on their fingers to solve problems. They didn’t know times tables. Couldn’t do fractions/percents.

2.3K

Abe L

@AbeL450000

Way to go Gavin! Leading the way! Pathetic waste of taxpayer funding. Better than Gavin's record on High Speed Rail however

I teach automotive fundamentals at a junior college and I see this as well. A distinct lack of writing skills primarily. And the handwriting is ATROCIOUS.

So much for the “holistic review” of the UC system. Kids who need elementary and middle school math remediation should not be getting admitted to a school like UCSD. And primary and secondary teachers should not be passing students who don’t meet standards. Utter failure on all

330

I Am Jack's Smirking Revenge

@6thvot1

I guess passing everyone and providing participation trophies wasn’t such a good idea after all.

Don Allen

@DonAlle14811898

13h

Hope the students aren’t using student loans as it is highly probable they will drop out and be left holding the bag. All due to the school’s enrollment picture which would collapse without these unqualified students

This is complete moral failure at these universities to have students taking elementary, and middle school math classes while paying/accruing debt at full university cost. It is setting them up in a huge financial trap. They should immediately be directed to catch up at much

College is a waste of time for about half of students—and probably 60–70% of men. They graduate into a world that’s basically anti-education: nothing meaningful gets built, very few people are in skilled roles, and a ton of guys just get dumped into generic sales jobs anyway.

127

Everybody is Insane

@colorblindk1d

The current head of the LA Teachers unions literally said that it doesn't matter if kids know their times tables as long as they know the definition of "insurrection". She also said learning loss isn't real.

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Steven Wright

@coastalchillin

Did something happen 4 or 5 years ago that stunted most of these kids?

Kevin Gross

@KevinMGross

It’s pretty simple to explain. This is what happens when you circumvent Prop 209 and admit unqualified students

Jaycin

@FightOn87

How is this possible…did they stop requiring standardized testing??

LennarSFR

@LennarSFR

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The 14 CSE students are cooked

Its the Weather

@4Itstheweather

newsom said grade scores were improving!

Dad Knows Best

@dadfocused

14h

no standardized testing. Grade inflation. DEI in the classroom…. here we are. top 20 US public school with 13% needing remedial math…. and it’s probably underreported.

385

Backwoods Engineer - THE ORIGINAL

@BackwoodsEnginr

10h

I'm seeing this in my computer/electronics engineering students, too.

166

Dad

@SpaceMonkey361

It all begins at grade school. They need to bring back standards and stop being afraid to fail these kids.

Dawn Roche

@dawn_roche9

14h

The real question is: why are these students being accepted into college if they aren't qualified?

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Nils Headley

@NilsHeadley

I’m sure this will bolster the folks pushing for multiple guess testing instead of following up and seeing which high school the students came from and addressing it that way. But hey, more money for ETS.

Kristi L. Talmadge

@KristiTalmadge

16h

This is more of an indictment against the Teacher's Unions and Public Education than it is against UC San Diego and their greed. Setting up students to fail services nobody but the banks they take loans from to pay for tuition, room, and board. Go to community college first.

1.1K

Owen the Monkey

@owenmiller75

Well, why not? There are are no real consequences for educational failure (and few rewards for achievement)!?!

Jen

@Jen_Vaughan

14h

And yet they’re turning away many highly qualified students who are Asian or white. Much of this issue would be solved by returning to standardized testing and meritorious admissions.

1.1K

Terence Daniels

@terencedaniels

So college kids are taking middle school math? How did they graduate?

Darius Sharpe

@MurseDarius

Why/how are they in the school if they aren't meeting the standard??? That's what junior colleges are for.

@bamboo_master_m

15h

Quote

Wendy

@teachthemx3

Nov 10

I had a new student in my Algebra II class. She was homeschooled previously, and this was her first experience in public school. Two days in, she’s already unerolling. I’m not surprised, given our last conversation. Her words when I asked her what she thought: “I wanted to see

You can’t have record amounts of non English language learners filling k-12 classrooms and not expect that entire classes aren’t negatively impacted. Teachers can only effectively teach to the slowest learners.

SeekingWisdom

@Fool_be_Wise

Universities should not offer any remedial classes. Anyone who needs one should not be there

Let_Oregon_Learn

@LetOregonLearn

12h

This is a DIRECT result of schools focusing on ‘equity’ (aka- passing everyone no matter what, cuz you don’t want anyone to feel bad) and having zero expectations or standards. I would bet $1000 that if they studied kids from Blue states vs Red, that kids from Blue

567

can't be a joke without a punchline

@Slaininvietnam

@grok

what has been the demographic change at UC San diego over the past 10 years

interesting to note the start date of this trend. Ofc, that could be a coincidence, but it seems plausible this could be covid related given what we know about how infections can cause cognitive damage.

A Life of Dissent

@ChomskyChannel

So what? University preparedness in one particular course has no great significance. Other skills improved during the pandemic. Scores in traditional academic measures like math have declined, but students have been forced to become masters of digital, asynchronous, and

Craig Bielek

@craigbielek

15h

If you need a math preparedness class, you should be going to community college, not university.

Step into any public school and you will see why students lag. Teachers aren't allowed to remove disruptive students and restorative justice leads any consequence. Add in an influx of non-English speaking students who must be accommodated, and it is overwhelming.

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@steveburke2000.bsky.social

@SteveBurke2000

15h

What percentage of these students who have to take remedial classes have parents that received state funded vouchers for private school education?

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Koalified_cool

@Koalified_cool

2. I needed those classes mentioned, extra tutoring & support. I started w/C & ended senior year w/A. It’s totally possible to catch up. The systems teach us how to think, learn & solve problems Genius are rare,those who excel continues to excel. We don’t bring the system down

but they are admitted anyway. they just keep dumbing down for dollars. if you give free student loan money the college will give finger painting to get the money if that's what it takes.

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