Using 857 male National Merit Finalists and Commended Students, scales to predict 1st year college grades and science, writing, art, music, speech, and leadership achievement were developed by analysis of 906 pre-college questionnaire items. Two item analysis strategies were used: responses of achieving subjects (S's) and general samples of nonachieving S's were compared; responses of achieving and nonachieving S's who had previously indicated desire to achieve were compared. The two strategies did not yield essentially different scales. Validity coefficients ranged from .15 to .38 with 300 cross-validation S's; similar correlations resulted from applying the scales to 681 females S's. More items about past accomplishment, activities, and competence entered the scales than did other item types, relative to the size of the item pools. The content of the scales and the correlations among variables support some unfavorable interpretations of high grade achievement. Results suggest the hypothesis that the grade scales should be a negative predictor of nonacademic achievement, and the nonacademic scales should predit grades negatively. (Author/JD)