A major concern for those in higher education is whether the instruments they use for screening students are valid and predictive. Of particular interest is whether a grammar test, used in many institutions to screen students for developmental English, and a reading comprehension test, used to screen students for developmental reading, truly predict a student's ability to succeed in freshman composition. A study attempted to determine the difference in grammatical skills between two groups of developmental college students based on their reading comprehension skills as defined by their scores on the Basic Skills Examination--Reading Test. Grammatical skills were defined as the students' scores on the Basic Skills Examination--English. Findings showed that students who were required to take a developmental reading course scored significantly lower on the Basic Skills Examination--English than did students who were not required to take the course. This suggests that reading courses should emphasize how correct syntax leads to precise interpretation and that English courses should emphasize how incorrect syntax leads to ambiguous interpretations. (HOD)