This study attempted to determine the effectiveness of cloze procedures as norm-referenced instruments by comparing the differential responses of four groups of college students of English as a second language on two identical cloze passages. The responses were scored using both exact-answer and acceptable-word methods. The results indicate that the effectiveness, measured as reliability and validity, appears to be strongly related to how well a given cloze passage fits a given student sample. This suggests, in turn, that pretesting any cloze passage is necessary so that an appropriate passage can be selected and modified or tailored to fit a certain group of students. Taking some or all of these steps should help produce a more reliable and valid norm-referenced instrument on whose scores responsible decisions about students can be based. (MSE)