The training of computer users is becoming increasingly important to all industrialized nations. This study examined how individual differences (e.g. ability and gender) may affect learning outcomes when acquiring computer skills. Subjects (N=347) were college students who took a computer literacy course from a college of business administration designed to allow the student to be more efficient in a work environment employing computers. The course involved both lecture and hands-on practice with computers. Students were divided into three groups based on their grade point averages and whether they had taken a computer course previously. Analyses of the data indicated that women tended to be more successful than men in transforming practice effort with the computer into higher learning performance for various ability groups. Lower ability students benefited primarily from attending an earlier computer science class in the hands-on section of the subsequent computer literacy course for office settings. The results obtained question some assumptions made in the literature about what constitutes efficient training for acquisition of computer skills. (Author/ABL)