Ability, high school achievement, and procrastinatory behavior are tested as predictors of college performance in 194 women and 54 men. Ability was operationalized by total Scholastic Aptitude Test score, achievement by average grade earned in high school, and procrastination by score on the Procrastination Assessment Scale (PASS). It was hypothesized that procrastination could account for variance beyond that explained by ability and high school achievement in predicting college grade point average (GPA). Self-handicapping, a form of excuse making, was also included as a predictor. Results showed that procrastination does account for a significant portion of variance in college grades beyond that explained by ability and high school grades. For men, high school achievement was the strongest predictor of college performance; for women, ability was the strongest predictor. Self-handicapping did not account for any variance in GPA.

The 60-item version of Grasha and Riechmann's Student Learning Style Scales (six scales, 10 items per scale) was administered to a large sample of college freshmen on each of three campuses (total N = 870) in the northeast. The Participative, Avoidant, and Collaborative scales showed acceptable internal consistency, but the Dependent, Independent, and Competitive scales did not. Factor analyses of items and scales produced no solution approximating simple structure in any sample. Neither items nor scales yielded a factor pattern resembling the theoretical structure postulated by Grasha and Riechmann in any sample, although scale scores in two samples yielded a Participative-Avoidant factor that is one of the theoretical dimensions. Properties of the 60-item version are thus very similar to those reported for an earlier 90-item version.