The incorporation of computer-managed instruction into an academic program made it necessary to identify those cognitive styles, abilities, and aptitudes which were relevant to the success or failure of trainees in the Navy's Basic Electricity and Electronics (BE/E) School in order to minimize the attrition rate. Measures of 6 styles, 6 abilities, and 12 aptitudes were administered to 172 BE/E trainee graduates and 35 BE/E failures. Stepwise discriminant analyses were computed to determine what linear combinations of tests optimally differentiate between BE/E graduates and failures. Classification equations and predictive accuracies were established for each derived discriminant function as a means of evaluating its adequacy. Results indicated that failures and graduates of BE/E School significantly differed in certain cognitive styles, abilities, and aptitudes. Failures as contrasted with graduates possessed: (1) field-dependent and broad conceptualizing styles; (2) poor verbal comprehension, ideational fluency, general reasoning capacity, and inductive ability; and (3) low quantitative, technical, verbal, and general aptitude. (Author)