This study investigated how students processed information obtained by reading a passage related to inertial reference frames. Two groups of 10th-grade students (one group consisting of students identified as potential National Merit Scholars and another consisting of students enrolled in level-I biology) read a science text passage and answered a set of six questions requiring that they apply the new material to novel situations. Results show that the academically talented students achieved higher scores than the level-I biology students. Other results were obtained from analyses of tape recorded interview data about how students processed each question. Test questions were specifically designed to reveal problem-solving strategies and allow for error pattern analysis. The academically talented students were more verbal, more methodical in comparing questions to the passage, and more likely to relate questions or parts of the text to their own past experiences. The average students often looked for a literal match between the questions and the text, and were more likely to answer questions based on previously held "naive theories," which sometimes were in direct conflict with text material. These results suggest that caution is needed in assuming that students will learn effectively from text presentations of new concepts. (Author/JN)