A study investigated whether high school students employ different study strategies in different content areas and whether their study strategy selections are influenced by the degree to which they are familiar with these topics. Subjects, 79 high school juniors, read one familiar and one unfamiliar passage from both history and chemistry textbooks. Results of the study strategy usage inventory indicated that students did not base their selection of study strategies on either their familiarity with the material or the content being studied. Findings suggested that students may be unable to make the fine discriminations among studying behaviors that are needed to assess the differences between benefits of various study strategies. Results showed that students' study strategies have little impact on their comprehension of material. The following implications relevant to college reading specialists derive from these results: (1) more specific descriptions of student study habits are needed, (2) the notion that high school students engage in activities believed effective for learning content should be examined, (3) researchers should employ more than one form of comprehension assessment, and (4) college reading personnel and secondary content teachers must cooperate to create an integrated, student-centered program. (JD)