From March through October of 1986, 44,453 students took the New Jersey College Basic Skills Placement Test (NJCBSPT) at the 30 New Jersey public colleges and 11 participating independent institutions of higher education. Designed to provide data for summary reports to the Board of Higher Education and to help colleges place already admitted students into first-level or remedial English and mathematics courses, the NJCBSPT has been administered for the past nine years. The system-wide proficiency results in the report do not always coincide with the percentages of students placed into remedial courses because the NJCBSPT is but one of the indicators the colleges use in making placements. For each of the last nine years, test results have been very stable and consistently disappointing. The proportion of students who are well prepared to begin college work in New Jersey continues to be far below a desirable level. Results are presented by statewide findings, college sectors, recent and non-recent high school graduates, perceptions vs. performance, demographic data, and outcomes of skills-deficient students in college. Five appendices include: a description of the NJCBSPT, NJCBSPT mean scaled scores for 1982-1986, a description of the proficiency levels established by the Basic Skills Council, items representative of those included on the NJCBSPT mathematics section, and a comparison of statewide self-reported student background data for 1982-1986. Five figures and 21 tables are included.(SM)