If you have a child finishing 9th grade right now, there is a development in UC admissions you need to know about. It is not a decision yet, and nothing changes for students applying in the next two cycles. But the timeline is close enough that families planning ahead should understand exactly what is happening and what it could mean.
On June 5, 2026, the University of California’s Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS) approved a formal roadmap to study whether standardized tests should return to UC admissions.
This is a study, not a policy change. But the process now underway is the most significant movement on UC standardized testing since tests were eliminated for the Fall 2021 entering class.
How UC Became Test-Free
UC’s path to test-free admissions started well before the pandemic made it inevitable. In early 2019, the UC Academic Senate convened an 18-member Standardized Testing Task Force (STTF) to evaluate the role of standardized tests in first-year undergraduate admissions. When the STTF transmitted its recommendations to Academic Council in January 2020, it recommended continuing the use of standardized tests.
Despite that recommendation, then-UC President Janet Napolitano recommended to the Board of Regents that the system phase out SAT and ACT requirements and explore developing a UC-specific admissions test. The Regents approved that direction in May 2020, and by the time the pandemic disrupted testing access that same year, the system was already moving away from the SAT and ACT.
UC has been test-free since the Fall 2021 application cycle, meaning that for every student who has applied to UC in the last several years, standardized test scores have played no role in admissions decisions.
What Just Changed: The BOARS Roadmap
In March 2026, Academic Senate Chair Palazoglu issued a special charge to BOARS, directing the board to develop a “Policies and Partnerships Roadmap” for the 2026-27 academic year. The charge asked BOARS to study two specific areas: the role of standardized testing in admissions and the effectiveness of UC’s college-preparatory A-G course requirements.
This article focuses on the testing question.
The roadmap, approved by BOARS on June 5, 2026 and available in full on the BOARS website, establishes a faculty workgroup (referred to in the roadmap as Workgroup 1) to investigate whether standardized test scores should be used in UC admissions. The workgroup will compare UC’s current test-free policy against the potential use of SAT/ACT scores or 11th-grade Smarter Balanced Assessment scores in reading, writing, and math.
Critically, the charge to Workgroup 1 uses neutral language: it will recommend “whether standardized tests should be used for admissions or not.” This is an open investigation, not a pre-determined push to reinstate anything.
Why This Is Happening Now
The review did not emerge from nowhere. In May 2026, more than 600 UC STEM faculty published an open letter calling for the reinstatement of SAT/ACT math score requirements for STEM applicants, specifically starting with the Fall 2027 admissions cycle. By mid-June 2026, that petition had grown to over 1,400 signatories, including seven of the nine chairs of UC Mathematics Departments and more than 50 STEM department chairs systemwide.
The faculty concerns center on what professors describe as a decline in student preparedness since test-free admissions began. The argument is not simply that test scores are predictive but that without them, the system loses a consistent signal of readiness in quantitative and analytical skills, particularly for students entering demanding STEM programs.
The BOARS roadmap is the UC system’s formal institutional response to that faculty pressure. It does not give the faculty what they asked for on the timeline they requested, but it opens the door to the outcome they are seeking.
The Full Timeline for a Potential Policy Change
This is where families need to pay close attention, because the timeline is longer than most media coverage suggests.
The roadmap calls for Workgroup 1 to begin convening in October 2026, meeting monthly through at least April 2027. The workgroup will review available research, identify additional data needs, and develop a written report with recommendations.
From there, any recommended changes must travel through multiple layers of approval: the workgroup report goes to BOARS, BOARS submits recommendations to Academic Council, Academic Council may forward them to the Assembly of the Academic Senate, and the Assembly’s recommendations then go to the UC President and ultimately to the Board of Regents for final review and approval.
That process, from workgroup launch to Regents vote, is not designed to move quickly. Based on the approved roadmap, the earliest any change could realistically take effect would be the Fall 2028 application cycle, meaning students entering UC in Fall 2029.
The class that would be affected first by the earliest possible timeline: students who are finishing 9th grade right now, in the spring of 2026.
Who This Could Affect
If you have a high school freshman at home, this timeline is directly relevant. A student entering 10th grade in fall 2026 would apply to UC in the fall of their senior year in 2028, precisely when any new requirement could first take effect.
That does not mean a requirement is coming. The workgroup process is designed to be evidence-based, and the roadmap language is genuinely neutral on the outcome. But if you are the parent of a current 9th grader who was planning to skip the SAT or ACT entirely, the calculus has changed enough that ignoring test preparation entirely now carries more risk than it did a year ago.
For students who are currently 10th graders or older, the situation is clearer: nothing changes. UC is still test-free for the Fall 2027 application cycle and almost certainly for Fall 2028 as well. Students applying in the next two cycles should focus on what matters under the current system: GPA, completion of major preparation requirements, and the strength of the overall application.
The Smarter Balanced Question
One aspect of the review that receives almost no attention in news coverage is the alternative being considered alongside the SAT and ACT: 11th-grade Smarter Balanced Assessment scores.
Smarter Balanced is a standardized assessment administered to 11th graders in California as part of the state’s public school accountability system. Most students take it in their junior year without thinking much about it. If the workgroup recommended using Smarter Balanced scores in admissions, it would create a fundamentally different situation than a traditional test requirement, because the test would already be something students take as a routine part of their schooling.
Whether Smarter Balanced scores are a valid predictor of UC-level readiness is one of the questions the workgroup will study. It is worth knowing this option is on the table, because it could affect how a future policy is structured if any change is ultimately approved.
What Other Elite Universities Have Done
UC faculty have not been shy about pointing to what peer institutions have done in recent years. MIT, Stanford, and Johns Hopkins all reinstated standardized testing requirements after temporarily suspending them during the pandemic. A number of other highly selective universities followed similar paths.
The argument from UC faculty is that the evidence from these institutions supports the predictive value of standardized tests, particularly in quantitative disciplines, and that UC’s test-free posture puts it out of step with the direction the broader higher education sector has moved.
Whether the UC Regents ultimately agree with that framing will depend heavily on what the workgroup’s research produces, as well as political and equity considerations that have historically been central to UC admissions policy discussions.
The Equity Debate Has Not Gone Away
Any honest account of this situation has to acknowledge the equity dimension, because it shaped the original decision to eliminate tests and will shape whatever decision emerges from this review.
Opponents of standardized testing requirements have long argued that scores correlate with family income and access to test preparation, giving wealthier students a structural advantage. That argument was central to the 2020 decision to phase out SAT and ACT requirements, and it has not lost its force.
Supporters of testing requirements counter that without a consistent academic signal, UC admissions has become more difficult to navigate and more opaque, and that test scores, when evaluated in context, can actually identify high-potential students from under-resourced schools who might otherwise be overlooked.
The BOARS roadmap asks the workgroup to weigh these competing arguments with fresh data. Neither side has locked in the outcome.
What Families Should Do Right Now
The appropriate response to this development depends entirely on where your student is in the process.
If your student is a current high school junior or senior, nothing about this review changes your strategy. Apply under the rules that exist, which are test-free. Focus on GPA and completing the right coursework.
If your student is a rising sophomore or younger, the smart move is to monitor this situation and not rule out standardized test preparation. You do not need to commit to full SAT or ACT prep today, but understanding the landscape now and keeping the option open is more prudent than ignoring it. Depending on what the workgroup recommends and whether the Regents act, your student could be the first class for whom a testing requirement applies.
The Bottom Line
UC is not bringing back the SAT or ACT yet. What has happened is that the faculty body responsible for setting admissions policy has opened a formal, structured review of whether standardized tests should return, with a timeline that could produce a new policy as early as the Fall 2028 application cycle.
For current applicants and students in 11th or 12th grade, nothing changes. For families with younger students still in the early years of high school, this is the most significant development in UC admissions policy in several years, and it deserves more than a passing glance.
Keep watching this space. The workgroup convenes in October 2026, and its findings will determine whether this review ends in a return to testing or a reaffirmation of the current test-free approach.
Thinking Through Your Student's UC Strategy?
UC admissions policy is genuinely in motion right now, and the decisions families make in the next year or two could look very different depending on how this review unfolds. If you would like to talk through how the current landscape affects your student’s specific plan, we offer a free consultation. Feel free to reach out.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will the UC require the SAT or ACT again?
No decision has been made. BOARS approved a roadmap on June 5, 2026, to formally study whether standardized tests should return. A faculty workgroup will investigate the question and issue recommendations, which must then be approved through the Academic Senate and the Board of Regents before any change could take effect.
When could a new testing requirement take effect?
The earliest possible timeline, based on the approved BOARS roadmap, is the Fall 2028 application cycle, which covers students who would enter UC in Fall 2029. That class is currently finishing 9th grade.
Does this affect students applying to UC in 2026 or 2027?
No. UC admissions remain test-free for the current and next application cycles. Students applying to UC in fall 2026 or fall 2027 do not need to submit SAT or ACT scores, and scores are not considered.
What is BOARS?
BOARS stands for the Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools. It is the UC Academic Senate committee responsible for setting undergraduate admissions policy. Changes to systemwide admissions requirements must be recommended by BOARS, approved through the Academic Senate, and ultimately approved by the UC Board of Regents.
What are Smarter Balanced scores, and why are they being discussed?
Smarter Balanced is a standardized assessment California administers to 11th graders in public schools. The BOARS workgroup has been charged with studying whether Smarter Balanced scores, in addition to or instead of the SAT/ACT, could be used in UC admissions as a measure of readiness in reading, writing, and math.
What should my 9th or 10th grader do right now?
Stay informed and keep the option of test preparation open. A final decision may not come until 2027 or later, but if tests return on the earliest possible timeline, current 9th graders are the class that would be affected first. Ignoring the SAT and ACT entirely while this review plays out carries more risk than it did a year ago.
