In September 1990, a study was conducted of the performance on basic skills examinations of first-time-in-college degree-seeking students who entered Miami-Dade Community College (M-DCC) during fall term 1990. The study examined placement results on the Computerized Placement Test (CPT) and the Florida Multiple Assessment Programs and Services test (FL-MAPS) between 1980 and 1990. Study findings included the following: (1) 6,027 first-time-in-college degree-seeking students wrote either the FL-MAPS or the CPT during fall 1990; (2) the failure rate for the reading subtest has remained at approximately 40% since 1985; (3) the percentage of students failing the test of standard English showed a steady decrease from 42.8% in 1983 to 34% in 1989, but increased to 36.7% in fall 1990; (4) the percentage of students failing the elementary algebra subtest remained at approximately 48% between 1987 and 1989, but went up to 52.4% in fall 1990; (5) the percentage of students failing one or more subtests has essentially remained stable over the last 11 years, but jumped slightly to 69.9% in fall 1990; and (6) among White non-Hispanics, 37.5% of the students passed all three subtests (i.e., reading, English, and math) in 1990, compared to 50.2% in 1980, while the pass-all-three rate for Black non-Hispanics increased from 11.2% to 18.4% during this period. A memo outlining placement criteria for academic year 1990-91 is included. (GFW)