LOS ANGELES - At the University of California San Diego (UCSD), hundreds of first-year students are beginning their studies with fractions and basic equations normally taught before high school, rather than spending their first quarter on calculus, reported Xinhua.
A report released on Nov 6 by UCSD's Senate-Administration Working Group (SAWG) on Admissions found significant decreases in the writing and math preparation of admitted students over the last five years.
According to the report, between 2020 and 2025, the number of students whose math skills fall below middle-school level increased nearly thirtyfold, reaching roughly one in eight members of the entering cohort.
The number of freshmen enrolled in remedial math rose from 32 in fall 2020 to 390 in fall 2022, then to 921 in fall 2025, accounting for 11.8 per cent of the incoming class.
Instructors originally designed the remedial course in 2016 to address gaps in high school math. By 2023, however, they found "many severe gaps going back to mathematics taught in middle and elementary school," said the report.
UCSD is highly ranked in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields, earning No. 4 among US public universities in the 2025 Academic Ranking of World Universities, 15th among all US universities and 20th globally.
The situation at UCSD, widely reported over the weekend by US media, reflects a broader national challenge.
Across the United States, national test data and college entrance exams have shown that students entering university after the pandemic are, on average, less prepared in math and reading than earlier cohorts.
According to the latest results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), only about 33 per cent of US high school seniors are considered ready for college-level math, down from 37 per cent in 2019. Meanwhile, 45 per cent scored below basic in math and 32 per cent fell below basic in reading.
Among younger students, the NAEP long-term trend assessment found that the average math scores for 13-year-olds in 2023 were nine points lower than in 2020, while reading scores were four points lower -- declines that wiped out many gains made since the 1990s. The steepest drops occurred among low-income students and some minority groups.
The consequences of beginning college far behind in math are significant. SAWG cited earlier internal data showing that students starting in Math 2, the university's middle school-level remedial course, have far higher rates of receiving D or F grades or withdrawing from subsequent calculus courses.
Faculty members fear the same pattern could emerge in other science and technology fields that rely heavily on mathematics. The Hill reported that "across the country this fall, millions of college students are walking into math classrooms worried about their future -- perhaps with good reason." - BERNAMA-XINHUA