An effective strategy utilizes seven or fewer steps in the remembering system. Naturally, as more steps are included in the strategy, the memory load on students increases. Conversely, too few steps can limit the effectiveness of the strategy, as more steps are needed to cue important actions. Effective remembering systems seek a balance between too many and too few steps. The remembering systems of effective strategies generally utilize seven or fewer steps.
Some tasks require a relatively sophisticated approach involving more than seven steps.
The remembering systems of effective strategies address this by embedding a substrategy, or ministrategy, within a general set of steps. For example, a strategy may contain five steps. The second step, however, cues students to perform a short three-step substrategy before going on to the third step of the general strategy. The strategy steps are communicated using words that are uncomplicated and familiar to students. Effective strategies are designed so the wording to convey the strategy steps is readily understandable to students.