This paper is an overview of some points made at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association in April of 1987. Gender effects were computed on 82 nationally standardized tests designed to determine precocity among youth. The effect sizes ranged from a magnitude of 0.50 (favoring females) for spelling in grade 12 on the Differential Aptitude Tests (DATs) to 0.89 (favoring males) for mechanical reasoning on the DATs in grade 12. The largest effect size on any of the other 80 tests was 0.76 (favoring males) for the advanced examination in political science of the Graduate Record Examinations. The results of this research indicate that there was a strong tendency for tests taken mainly by males to yield the largest effect sizes favoring males and for tests taken mainly by females to yield small effect sizes, some of which favored females. All of the tests examined, except the DATs, are used primarily for selection or awarding of advanced standing in college. Although research indicates that girls and young women tend to be better students than do boys and young men, female students tend to be outperformed by male students on most standardized tests. Study results also indicate that women seem more oriented toward social, aesthetic, and religious subject matter, while men seem more interested in science, practicality, conspicuous consumption, power, and control. The Allport-Vernon-Lindzey inventory of evaluative attitudes might help researchers understand females' preferences and subject-matter orientations. (TJH)