The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a typical California community college Intermediate Algebra course in preparing students for success in the transfer level mathematics courses for which Intermediate Algebra was the prerequisite. The subsequent mathematics course taken by each of the 986 students who received a grade in Intermediate Algebra at Saddleback College for the Fall, 2002 semester was determined and the grade received in that subsequent mathematics course identified. Fifty-two percent of these students successfully completed the Intermediate Algebra course by receiving a grade of C or higher. Of the 513 students who successfully completed the Intermediate Algebra course, 443 students later enrolled in a transfer level mathematics course either at Saddleback College or Irvine Valley College. Nearly two-thirds of these 443 students were successful in their subsequent mathematics course, however the rates of success varied significantly over the various available transfer level courses. While 85 percent of the students were successful in College Algebra, only 54 percent were successful in Introduction to Statistics and 52 percent were successful in Trigonometry. Students who earned an A grade in Intermediate Algebra were quite likely to be successful in their subsequent mathematics class. Students who earned grades of B or C in Intermediate Algebra were at significant risk of being unsuccessful if they enrolled in either Introduction to Statistics or Trigonometry as their subsequent course. Students who earned a grade of C in Intermediate Algebra were likely to be successful in College Algebra and Mathematics for Liberal Arts Students, but were unlikely to be successful in Introduction to Statistics and Trigonometry. Nearly ninety percent of the students, who enrolled in another mathematics course during the four-year period following their Intermediate Algebra class, took that subsequent class within one year of completing the Intermediate Algebra class. Sixty-two percent of the students who waited more than a year to enroll in a subsequent mathematics course successfully completed that class. The distribution of these successful students over the semesters from Spring, 2004 through Spring, 2006 did not suggest that students were less likely to succeed if they chose a longer delay between their Intermediate Algebra course and their subsequent mathematics course. Appended is: Distribution of Fall, 2002 Intermediate Algebra (Math 253) Students Categorized by the Grade Earned in Math 253 and the Subsequent Mathematics Course Taken in the South Orange County Community College District. (Contains 15 tables.)