Although many studies have revealed the importance of study skills for students' first-year performance and college retention, the extent of the impact of study skills preparation on students' academic achievement is less clear. This paper explores the impact of pre-university study skills preparation on students' first-year study experiences, academic achievement and persistence. The setting for this study is a large law school in the Netherlands which attracts students from more than 100 schools for secondary education. The results show that the perceived study skills preparation concerning time management and learning skills does have a positive impact on college students' first-year study behaviour and academic achievement. However, the study also shows that the impact of perceived college preparation is far less important for college retention than other factors such as satisfaction about the chosen degree programme and tutorial attendance. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)