THE PURPOSE OF THIS INVESTIGATION WAS TO ISOLATE PERSONALITY TRAITS THAT ARE RELATED TO ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT INDEPENDENT OF CORRELATIONS WITH INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY AS MEASURED BY THE SCHOLASTIC APTITUDE TEST, ACADEMIC RANK AS A HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR, AND TEACHER RECOMMENDATIONS. THIS RESEARCH CENTERED ON THE CAPACITY OF THE INDIVIDUAL COLLEGE FRESHMAN TO FUNCTION IN STRESS SITUATIONS, CONSIDERED TO BE AN IMPORTANT FACTOR IN ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT. THE SUBJECTS WERE 351 MALE COLLEGE FRESHMEN. THE PSYCHASTHENIA SCALE OF THE MINNESOTA MULTIPHASIC PERSONALITY INVENTORY (MMPI) AND TWO MEASURES OF THE ACQUIESCENCE RESPONSE SET WERE ADMINISTERED TO ALL SUBJECTS. IN THE OVERALL ANALYSIS GAINED AFTER THE SUBJECTS COMPLETED THEIR FRESHMAN YEAR, CERTAIN RELATIONS BETWEEN THE VARIABLES WERE FOUND TO BE QUITE CONSISTENT. THE CORRELATIONS BETWEEN PSYCHASTHENIA SCORES AND GRADE POINT AVERAGES WERE ALWAYS NEGATIVE. CORRELATIONS BETWEEN ACQUIESCENCE AND GRADE POINT AVERAGES WERE TYPICALLY NEGATIVE, AS WERE THE SIGNIFICANT CORRELATIONS BETWEEN VERBAL APTITUDE AND ACQUIESCENCE. THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF MOST OF THE SUBJECTS DURING THEIR FRESHMAN YEAR RELATED TO THE PERSONALITY VARIABLES IN THE SAME MANNER THAT THE PERSONALITY VARIABLES RELATED TO PERFORMANCE IN NONSTRESS EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES, AND IS NOT RELATED TO FACTORS INHERENT IN THE ACADEMIC SITUATION. (GD)