Controlling for possible confoundings in a recent study (Carstens & Beck, 1986), we found that completing a high school psychology class was not related to performance in a college introductory psychology course but a strong background in high school natural science was related to higher grades in the course, especially in the section dealing with topics closely related to natural science. An explanation in terms of the congruence of the scientific–experimental focus of the natural science courses and the college psychology course is suggested.
