Answers to application prompts shouldn’t be drawn from memory

The tasks described in The mnemonic medium can help readers apply what they’ve learned through simple application prompts push readers to use what they’ve learned to produce an answer. These prompts won’t do their job if readers can just memorize the answers: then they’ll become recall prompts. Our simple solution is Application prompts should vary when repeated.


Q. Why shouldn’t answers to application prompts in the mnemonic medium be drawn from memory?
A. Readers are supposed to be using what they’ve learned to produce an answer, not drawing the answer from memory.


Last updated 2023-07-13.