A study compared career ladder practical nursing (PN) and associate degree (AD) nursing students with their university counterparts with regard to the development of critical thinking over an academic year. The sample included 55 PN students, 55 AD students, 38 pre-health science freshmen, and 29 generic baccalaureate sophomore nursing students. The PN students were in the first year of a career ladder program and the AD students the second year. There was no significant difference between the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal scores of the PN students and the pre-health science freshmen at either the fall or spring testing. The sophomore students scored significantly higher than the AD students at both the fall and spring testings; however, questions were raised about the samples compared. None of the four groups made significant gains in critical thinking over the academic year. (Author/KC)