University of California Berkeley Math Professor Sounds Alarm on Declining Student Preparedness in Calculus

BERKELEY, Calif. — Zvezdelina Stankova, a teaching professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, has described a sharp drop in the mathematical readiness of incoming students, saying some arrive years behind grade level and struggle with concepts typically mastered in middle school.

In an opinion piece published in the San Francisco Standard, Stankova wrote that office hours intended for advanced topics such as integrals frequently turn into remedial sessions on fractions and basic algebra. “Some students are five to eight years behind in mathematics,” she stated.

Stankova, who holds a PhD from Harvard University and founded the Berkeley Math Circle, teaches large calculus courses. In spring 2023, she instructed Calculus II (Math 1B) across two sections that together enrolled roughly 1,200 to 1,400 students. She observed that about one-third of the class disengaged after the second week: many stopped attending lectures, skipped quizzes and homework, and performed poorly on the first midterm.

UC Berkeley calculus professor Zvezdelina Stankova described teaching 1,200-1,400 students in spring 2023 where one-third disengaged early, skipped lectures, and performed poorly on midterms due to severe math gaps like basic algebra and fractions

“I never seen anything like this before,” Stankova later recounted. While strong students remained at the top end of the distribution, the lower end lagged by multiple standard deviations. In response, she redesigned the syllabus mid-semester, adding bonus points and in-class polls for participation credit, and lowered grade cutoffs to help more students pass. In retrospect, she has described the decision to lower standards as a mistake.

Diagnostic data cited by Stankova illustrate the broader trend. Before 2020, about 71 percent of students entering Calculus I tested as ready or nearly ready. Between 2021 and 2023, that figure fell to roughly 44 percent. By the 2022–23 academic year, more than one-third of calculus students showed severe deficits, with zero the most common score on the diagnostic exam.

Stankova attributes much of the decline to the University of California system’s shift to test-blind admissions after 2020, when standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT were removed from consideration. She has argued that the change has produced polarized classrooms containing both highly prepared students and those needing extensive remedial instruction. Stankova is among faculty members who have signed open letters calling for the restoration of standardized testing requirements for STEM admissions.

UC Berkeley has one of the lowest acceptance rates among public universities in the United States, admitting about 10.5 percent of applicants. Stankova has noted that peer institutions that temporarily suspended testing during the pandemic have largely reinstated the requirements, while the UC system’s next policy review is not expected to take effect before fall 2028.