For several semesters, the teaching staff of the administrative statistics course at The University of Massachusetts have engaged in "acceptance testing"--the screening of incoming students for some very basic skills with an open book, unlimited time, repeatable test. Test results demonstrated that successful completion of prerequisite courses was no guarantee of readiness for courses which built upon the prerequisites. These results provided information that could be used to work with the mathematics and statistics department to correct deficiencies. A historical account of the testing program, a description of the implementation strategy, and an assessment of impact on the administrative statistics course (and on teachers of prior courses) are reported. (Author/MV)