Each year thousands of students entering college participate in credit by examination programs in an effort to qualify for exemption and in many cases college credit for general education core requirements. The purpose of this study was to examine the differences between students who participate in a credit by examination program (in this case taking the College Level Examination Program, CLEP, general examinations in Natural Sciences, Social Science, and Humanities) and those of similar ability who do not. The hypothesis was advanced that an 'achievement tendency' exists which is a set of factors and/or motivators which result in better academic success in students of similar ability and that differences in interest and experience measures between the CLEP and Non-CLEP groups may predict this effect. While differences were found to be constant between the two groups across relevant variables (i.e. CLEP students were more self-assured, had greater expectations for achievement, and participate in more extracurricular activities), these differences on the whole were not statistically significant. Differences in academic performance as measured by GPA were not significant as well. (Author)