Nearly 1 in 5 UC freshmen are flunking math, double the rate from 5 years ago

University of California freshmen are increasingly flunking introductory math classes, with nearly one in five students earning a failing grade, withdrawing or otherwise failing to pass — almost double the rate from five years ago, new data revealed.17.8% of freshmen taking introductory math courses across the University of California system failed to pass in the 2025-26 academic year, up from just 9.2% in 2020-21, EdSource reported.The figures come as California continues to struggle with lackluster academic performance in its public schools, raising fresh questions about whether students are arriving at the state’s prestigious universities with the skills they need to succeed.The courses included in the figures range from calculus and precalculus to preparatory math classes covering subjects such as algebra and trigonometry.The failure rate has climbed substantially since the UC system dropped the SAT and ACT as admission requirements.

The 2020-21 academic year was the last in which the standardized tests were required for freshman admission.The rate jumped to 13% in 2021-22 before dipping slightly to 12.6% the following year.It climbed to 15.3% in 2023-24, eased to 14.9% in 2024-25 and then surged to its highest level in 2025-26.“California Can’t grade their way out of an education crisis,” Sonja Shaw, a Republican candidate for California state superintendent of public instruction, told the Post.

“Dropping the SAT and ACT has let far too many students arrive unprepared for even introductory math,” Shaw said, arguing that the nearly doubled failure rate was evidence that schools were advancing students without ensuring they had mastered basic skills.The numbers vary dramatically across the UC system’s nine undergraduate campuses.UC Merced had the highest share of freshmen who failed to pass introductory math, with 36.4% falling short in 2025-26 — more than double its rate of about 16% five years earlier.UC Riverside experienced one of the shar...