The major purpose of this study was to relate individual differences among selected Suffolk University freshmen to their ability to succeed academically through a reading study skills course which utilized a teacher-directed approach and a student-directed approach. The subject were 87 students from a freshman class who had graduated in the bottom 60th percent of their high school class. The students were randomly assigned to three groups: (1) a noncredit student-directed skills class, (2) a noncredit teacher-directed skills class, and (3) a control group receiving no training in reading study skills. There were two sections of each teaching approach, both sections taught by the investigator. Fifty-minute classes were held twice a week for 15 weeks. Students in both the experimental and control groups carried between 12 and 15 academic credit hours. An examination of the resultant tables shows that if alternative instructional treatments are provided for students with different characteristics, a greater proportion of students required to enroll in Suffolk University's College Reading-Study Skills program should make scholastic improvement. (TS)