This study examined whether the type of prompt or the method of passage reading had an effect on the retell performance of 6th-8th graders randomly assigned to one of four retell testing conditions. Both the type of prompt and the use of follow-up prompting were significantly related to the percentage of predetermined idea units retold. Effect sizes were approximately moderate (d = 0.44-0.62) when one change was made to the prompt but were strong (d = 0.96-1.05) with a combination of changes. The addition of silent reading did not significantly improve performance. (Contains 5 tables.)