To determine the crucial factors affecting student performance on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) in Manatee County (Florida) public schools, researchers sent questionnaires to students who had completed the SAT in the years 1977 through 1980. Of 887 students sent the questionnaire, 188 returned responses in time for tabulation. This small sample appeared to be skewed toward more successful students. The questionnaire responses, when interpreted in the light of information from application forms filled out by students at the time the SATs were taken, and when viewed in terms of the scores obtained by students on the tests, led to the identification of several conditions having a major effect on test success: the number of math, science, and English courses taken; personal and parental expectations of academic performance; math and English course content; personal motivation to achieve scholastic success and to score well on college entrance examinations; vocabulary study in English; and college preparatory course work. Conditions judged as having little effect were writing assignments and literature study in English; the number of social studies and foreign language courses taken; and study of test-taking strategies in school. (Author/PGD)