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The purpose of the study is to shed light on the mechanisms behind scholastic achievement in high school by testing a structural equations model based on the work by Vermunt (1998). It was presumed that self-regulation of learning would predict scholastic achievement and that learning orientations would predict self-regulation of learning. A survey tapping self-regulation and learning orientations based on the Inventory of Learning Styles (ILS) was administered to a fairly large sample of Finnish first-year high school students. A similar survey was repeated when the students were attending high school for their third year resulting in 245 participants who took part in both surveys. In addition, data were collected on scholastic achievement from multiple sources: national matriculation exam results, final grade point average (GPA) and self-reports of 9th grade GPA. The primary analyses were carried out within a structural equation (SEM) framework. The analyses resulted longitudinal SEM model that accounted for 40% of the variance in performance on the matriculation exam. The model applied for several subgroups of students, but not in all subject domains. To conclude, self-regulation may not only have a small, but statistically significant effect on GPA at university as shown by previous studies, but on scholastic achievement in high school. However, the path coefficient from self-regulation to scholastic achievement was not very high. Further work is needed to determine if students are having difficulty in performing the basic cognitive activities required. The next step is that researcher study in more detail how changes in self-regulation affect scholastic achievement and how self-regulation of learning can be promoted. (Contains 1 figure.)