The State of New Jersey has proposed moving its competency test of basic skills from the 9th to the 11th grade, in order to allow for more content learning, more maturity, and more test-taking skills on the part of students. Since vocational students are more likely than other students to score low on the basic skills competency test, having the test later has both good and bad consequences for these students. Students who take the test later should be more mature, have taken more vocational courses, and have survived the age-16 dropout plateau. However, students who fail the later test have less time for remediation in order to pass the test in grade 12 and graduate. Recommendations are made for early testing to serve as an "early warning" for those students most likely to fail the basic skills test and for remediation measures for those who fail early tests. Other recommendations for vocational education in New Jersey include open entry/open exit programs, mastery measured by competency rather than time spent, inclusion of basic skills in all vocational courses, and training for teachers in integrating reading, writing, and mathematics instruction in vocational courses. (KC)