The investigation tested the mean overall grade level placement of senior students in Louisiana secondary schools for the 1973-74 school session to see if they could meet the same standard that was used for adult students as the prerequisite for General Educational Development (GED) testing for the high school equivalency diploma (that is a minimum score of 13.0 with no one area below 12.0 on the California Achievement Test). The State was divided into eight geographical regions, and from a randomly selected parish in each region a randomly selected secondary school was chosen. All senior students (a total of 423) in each of these selected schools were administered the California Achievement Test, Advanced Battery, during the final month of the senior year. The individual overall grade placement of each student was determined, along with the grade placement for each subtest. The mean overall placement level was determined for the sample, and the mean scores for the subtests were determined and are presented in table form. The research indicated that the adult student who is approved for GED testing in Louisiana demonstrates an academic performance several grade levels above the mean grade level placement of sample secondary diploma candidates. (JR)