Overview
- Late September UC STEM faculty publicly urged the University of California to reinstate SAT or ACT requirements, saying many incoming students show severe preparation gaps in courses such as first‑semester calculus.
- A report for the American Enterprise Institute found a robust correlation between test scores and six‑year college completion, estimating a 100‑point SAT increase predicts roughly an 8‑percentage‑point rise in completion after controls.
- Multiple academic studies, however, show that adopting test‑optional policies before the pandemic led to only modest rises in enrollment of lower‑income and underrepresented students—about one percentage point—and little clear change in graduation rates.
- Researchers and commentators point to tradeoffs: supporters say scores help identify prepared students from disadvantaged backgrounds, while critics warn reinstating single exams risks reinforcing racial and socioeconomic exclusion or simply shifting lower‑scoring students to less‑resourced colleges.
- UC leaders are reexamining the test‑blind rule but have made no decision; any change could affect who is admitted to selective campuses, how students are prepared and supported, and whether colleges invest more in transfer and remedial pathways.