Many colleges and universities require a general fitness or wellness class as part of the general education degree program (Ermler, Kovar, Reinders, 1993). The purpose of this study was to determine pre-course knowledge of basic fitness principles of both major and non-Kinesiology major students. Whether there was any significant difference between pre-course knowledge between the two groups, and if so, in which of the five basic areas of fitness was there a difference was assessed through a 35 question test, and follow up analyses. Data analyses consisted of frequency data, two-sample t-test, and pairwise comparisons (LSD). General demographic data includied gender, ethnicity, classification, and age. There was a significant difference in knowledge between the non-majors and Kinesiology major students (t238=2.95). Kinesiology majors answered more questions correctly. For the non-majors, 37% of the questions were answered incorrectly by over 75% of the respondents. The categories having the most incorrect answers by the highest percentages of respondents were Body Composition and Cardiovascular Endurance. All three questions addressing supplements and their relation to either muscular strength or body composition were answered incorrectly by over 90% of the respondents. The "importance of warming up before exercising" and "regular exercise will help strengthen bones" were answered correctly by over 80% of the respondents. For the Majors group, no question was answered incorrectly by more than 54% of the respondents. There were significant differences in regards to all of the questions that the non-major group answered incorrectly when compared to the Majors. For example, "exercise can turn fat into muscle", was answered correctly by the Majors' a significant number of times over the non-majors (t 119=2.55). The post-course results were obtained and are being analyzed. This information is important, because although we are inundated with information from the media, students' knowledge of fitness principles is extremely poor. Knowledge leaned heavily towards the myths of exercise. For the majors, most were early in their program (75%), so knowledge from other classes was limited. Their increase in knowledge could be due to a greater general interest in fitness. Although, the majors overall had more knowledge than the non-majors, there were many questions answered incorrectly by a relatively high percentage. The preliminary results on the post-test indicate a significant drop in incorrect answers. This is of interest in regards to the effectiveness of a Kinesiology program, and the importance of a required, general education program.