California Ditched Remedial Math — and 62,000 More Students Are Now Completing College-Level Courses

California's community colleges scrapped placement tests and remedial math sequences in favor of direct enrollment in transfer-level courses, and the results are hard to argue with: 58% of first-time college math students completed a transfer-level course on their first attempt in fall 2024 — a 7-point jump in two years — and the total number completing transfer-level math in a single term has more than doubled to 62,000. For Latine and Black students specifically, completion rates are three to four times higher than before the reform. At Cuyamaca College in San Diego, nearly 80% of STEM students who enroll directly in Calculus I with corequisite support pass it in one semester — compared to just 25% who previously worked through Precalculus first. The transfer rate to four-year universities has also climbed from 6.5% to 11%. If you're at a California community college, check whether your campus offers a corequisite support option for math — skipping the remedial track could shave a full year off your path to transfer.