A surprising amount of everyday remembering has no words in it. The layout of a kitchen in a new flat, where the car was left in a parking garage, the route a receptionist just traced on a map, the wiring diagram in an appliance manual, the stretch a physiotherapist sketched on a whiteboard. Each of these is a picture that has to be held in mind after it is gone, long enough to be used. Pattern recall is the paper version of that: look at a design, hold it, put it back.
This page covers the pattern recall format. You can download a free level 2 worksheet below (three dot-grid patterns, 45 seconds of study time each), see how the 30-worksheet set is graded across three grid sizes and three study times, and read how the format relates to the Benton Visual Retention Test, a standardized design-reproduction test, and why a practice page is not the test.
Download the free pattern recall worksheet
Download the PDFWant more pages like this? Pattern Recall Worksheets (30 Worksheets) $4.25 See the full set
Worksheet DRT2D from the set, level 2: three numbered dot patterns down the page, each drawn on a grid of four columns and three rows, with an empty twelve-dot grid beside it. Study each pattern for 45 seconds, cover it, and draw it on the empty grid. Name and date lines at the top, and the pattern itself is the answer key. Free for personal, classroom, and session use.
- Level: 2 of 3
- Grid: 4 by 3, twelve dots
- Patterns: 3 per page
- Study time: 45 seconds each
- Paper: US Letter
What is a pattern recall task?
Each worksheet has three numbered patterns down the page. A pattern is a set of straight lines joining some of the dots in a small grid, and beside it is the same grid with nothing drawn on it. The person studies the pattern for the time printed in the instructions, covers it with a card or a folded sheet, and draws it from memory on the empty grid. Then the card comes off and the two are compared, line by line. The pattern is its own answer key, so a page can be checked with nothing else to hand.
It is a quiet task, and it is non-verbal by design. Nothing has to be read beyond the instructions and nothing has to be said, so it suits people whose language or literacy makes word-based memory tasks a poor fit. What it asks for is a picture held in mind for long enough to draw: how many lines there were, which dots they joined, and where the whole shape sat on the grid.
Visual memory
Taking in a design and holding it after it is gone. The study time is the window for taking it in; the cover is what turns the task into memory.
Spatial relationships
Where each line sits relative to the others and to the edge of the grid. The right shape drawn in the wrong corner is a spatial miss, not a forgotten one.
Visual attention
Looking at the whole pattern rather than the first line that catches the eye. A segment that was never noticed cannot be recalled.
Visuoconstruction
Turning the remembered image into pen strokes on the grid. The drawing half of the task, and the reason the answer is drawn rather than spoken.
The Benton Visual Retention Test, and how these worksheets differ
The study-and-reproduce format comes from design reproduction tests, and the best known of these is the Benton Visual Retention Test (BVRT). It was developed by the neuropsychologist Arthur Benton, first published in the 1940s, and is still in print through Pearson. The examiner shows a series of ten cards, each carrying one or more geometric figures. In the standard administration each card is shown for ten seconds and taken away, and the person draws what was on it from memory. Other administrations shorten the exposure, add a delay before drawing, or ask for a straight copy. The drawings are scored on the number reproduced correctly and on the kind of errors made: a figure left out, distorted, rotated, or placed in the wrong position.
Psychologists and neuropsychologists use it, alongside other measures and a history, as a general measure of visual memory, visual perception, and the ability to construct what was seen. It has alternate forms, published norms, and a manual, and both giving it and reading the results are the work of a trained professional. Two related instruments are worth knowing by name. The Visual Patterns Test shows grids in which half the cells are filled, for a few seconds each, and asks for the filled cells to be marked on an empty grid, with the grids growing larger as the test goes on. The Corsi block-tapping task uses nine blocks on a board: the examiner taps a sequence and the person taps it back. Both are span measures of visuospatial memory, where the pattern or the sequence keeps growing until it can no longer be reproduced.
Worth knowing: the worksheets on this page borrow the study, cover, and draw format, not the test. The designs are different, the grids and study times are the set’s own, and nothing here produces a score that can be compared to a norm. They are structured cognitive practice materials. They are not an assessment, and they are not a substitute for evaluation by a qualified professional. If someone is going to be assessed with a design-reproduction test, tell the clinician about any pattern practice, since familiarity with the format can affect how a result is read.
How the pattern recall worksheets are graded
Thirty worksheets, ten at each of three levels, with three patterns on every page, so ninety patterns in all. Each level moves to a bigger grid and gives a longer study time to go with it:
Level 1
Worksheets DRT1A to DRT1J. Grids of three by three, nine dots, and 30 seconds of study time per pattern. Each pattern is a few connected segments, small enough to be named in a word or two (a box, a hook, a zigzag) before it is covered.
Level 2
Worksheets DRT2A to DRT2J. Grids of four columns by three rows, twelve dots, and 45 seconds. The extra column means longer designs with more segments and more places a line could go, and the position of the shape on the grid starts to matter. This is the free sample above.
Level 3
Worksheets DRT3A to DRT3J. Grids of four by four, sixteen dots, and 60 seconds. The most segments in the set, with diagonals and branches that spread across the whole grid, so where the design sits matters as much as what shape it is.
| What you get | Free sample | Full set |
|---|---|---|
| Worksheets | 1 | 30, in a 35-page PDF |
| Levels | Level 2 | Levels 1, 2, and 3 |
| Grid sizes | 4 by 3 | 3 by 3, 4 by 3, and 4 by 4 |
| Patterns | 3 | 90 |
| Study time | 45 seconds | 30, 45, and 60 seconds |
| Answer key | The pattern itself, uncovered and compared | Same on every page |
| Name and date lines | Yes | Yes, every page |
| Repeat sessions without reusing a page | One page | Weeks of practice |
Using it in a session or at home
- Use the printed time, then cover completely. Set a timer for the study time on the page (45 seconds on the free sheet), then cover the pattern with a card or fold the page back on itself. A pattern that stays half visible is a copy, not recall.
- Talk the pattern through before covering it. Count the lines, name the shape, and notice which edge of the grid it touches. Putting words on a picture gives the memory a second handle to hold it by.
- Check together, line by line. Uncover the pattern and compare: how many lines match, which are missing, which are extra, and whether the shape landed in the right place. Write the count beside the pattern number so the page becomes its own record.
- Watch what kind of miss it is. A rotated or mirrored design, a shape shifted one dot over, and a forgotten line are three different things, and each points to something different to practice next.
- Add a delay before moving up. When immediate recall is steady on a level, wait 30 seconds between covering and drawing, or shorten the study time to 20 seconds, before opening the next grid size.
- When drawing is hard, point instead. The person points to the dots in order and a partner draws the lines, or the design is traced with a finger on the empty grid. The remembering part of the task is unchanged.
Prefer a screen? We also offer two free interactive versions. Pattern Recall on our tools site shows a grid pattern to hold in mind and rebuild by tapping, immediately or after a delay, and records the cells hit, missed, and added along with recall time, with an adaptive span mode that grows the pattern while it is still being rebuilt correctly. Design Recall on our tools site is the closer match to these worksheets: a dot-to-dot design is studied, covered, and rebuilt one tap at a time, and it reports lines drawn out of the total, with missed and extra lines counted. Nothing to print, free to use.
Who uses pattern recall worksheets
- Occupational therapists and speech-language professionals
- Hospital, community, and day programs
- Educators working with adult learners
- Caregivers supporting cognitive practice at home
- Adults looking for structured, printable visual memory activities
All of our worksheets are designed to be adult-appropriate, visually clean, and easy to understand without unnecessary visual clutter.
The free worksheet above is one level 2 page. If you want the full graded progression, our Pattern Recall set includes all 30 worksheets across the three grid sizes and study times. It is also part of the Memory Worksheets Bundle, 120 pages, and our memory worksheets guide explains how pattern recall fits alongside the other memory sets.
These materials support cognitive stimulation and structured practice. They are not medical treatment or an assessment, and no specific therapeutic outcomes are claimed.
