What is the TOMAL-2? A guide to the Test of Memory and Learning

The TOMAL-2, or Test of Memory and Learning, Second Edition, is an individually administered battery that measures verbal and nonverbal memory in people ages 5 years 0 months through 59 years 11 months. Published by PRO-ED in 2007 and authored by Cecil R. Reynolds and Judith K. Voress, it combines eight core subtests, six supplementary subtests, and two delayed recall tasks into a detailed picture of how well a person takes in, holds, and retrieves information. This article explains what the TOMAL-2 measures, how it is scored, who uses it, and why a memory battery tells you something an IQ test cannot.

The TOMAL-2 is built around three core composite scores. According to PRO-ED, the core battery yields a Verbal Memory Index, a Nonverbal Memory Index, and an overall Composite Memory Index. A review in the Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment noted that the publisher advertises it as the single most comprehensive memory battery available for the full age range of 5 through 59 years.

Beyond the core indexes, the supplementary subtests and delayed recall tasks allow examiners to compute six additional composites. PRO-ED lists them as follows.

• Verbal Delayed Recall Index: how much verbal material a person retains after a delay, based on repeat testing of earlier items.

• Learning Index: how performance improves across repeated trials of the same material, which captures the "learning curve" rather than a single snapshot.

• Attention and Concentration Index: performance on tasks that demand sustained focus, such as repeating digit and letter strings.

• Sequential Memory Index: memory for the exact order of information, a skill that matters for tasks like following multi-step directions.

• Free Recall Index: retrieval of material without cues or prompts.

• Associative Recall Index: memory for paired information, such as which two items were presented together.

This breadth is the TOMAL-2's main selling point. Instead of one global memory score, an examiner can see whether a child remembers stories but loses digit strings, or holds pictures in mind while verbal material slips away.

The publisher reports that the core battery takes about 30 minutes, while the core plus supplementary battery takes about 60 minutes. The 14 named subtests include Memory for Stories, Facial Memory, Word Selective Reminding, Visual Selective Reminding, Object Recall, Abstract Visual Memory, Digits Forward, Visual Sequential Memory, Paired Recall, Memory for Location, Manual Imitation, Letters Forward, Digits Backward, and Letters Backward.

Scoring follows the same conventions as most cognitive tests. Each subtest produces a "scaled score" with a mean of 10 and a standard deviation of 3, and each composite index is reported on the familiar scale with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, along with percentile ranks. A Composite Memory Index of 100 is exactly average for a person's age; an index of 85 sits one standard deviation below the mean.

According to PRO-ED, the TOMAL-2 was normed on more than 1,900 children, adolescents, and adults drawn from 31 states, with the sample matched to the U.S. population on gender, age, ethnicity, urban or rural residence, and geographic region. The publisher reports that reliability estimates for the composites fall in the .90s, with remaining values above .85, and that test-retest coefficients exceed .70 for the subtests, with most above .80.

The TOMAL-2 appears mostly in school and clinical settings where memory is part of the referral question. Three groups come up again and again in the research literature.

• Learning disability evaluations: memory for verbal material, sequences, and paired associations bears directly on reading and math acquisition, so school psychologists add a memory battery when a learning disorder is suspected. For a broader look at this class of instruments, see our guide to how memory is actually measured at https://www.riotiq.com/articles/specific-iq-tests-and-formats/memory-tests-how-memory-is-measured.

• ADHD evaluations: a 2010 study in The Clinical Neuropsychologist compared 80 children with ADHD to 80 matched controls on the original TOMAL and found the largest deficits on the Attention/Concentration and Sequential Recall indexes, with classification accuracy (area under the curve) of .76 and .77 for those two composites. Memory tests do double duty here because attention problems show up first in what a child fails to encode.

• Traumatic brain injury: a separate 2010 study in Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology found that 150 children with traumatic brain injury scored roughly 1.3 standard deviations below matched peers across all TOMAL subscale and index scores. Memory is among the functions most sensitive to brain injury, which is why memory batteries are standard in pediatric neuropsychological workups.

A reasonable question is why anyone needs a memory battery when an IQ test already exists. The answer is that the two overlap only partly. In a longitudinal study published in the Journal of Intelligence, Wolfgang Schneider and Frank Niklas reported observed correlations between intelligence and verbal short-term and working memory measures of roughly .17 to .40, and they concluded that working memory and intelligence are separable though closely related constructs.

In practical terms, a child can earn an average IQ score while showing a genuinely weak memory profile, and the reverse also happens. That gap is exactly what evaluators are looking for. When a student's reasoning is intact but delayed recall collapses, the intervention plan looks different than it would for a general ability deficit. This is why memory batteries such as the TOMAL-2 are administered alongside IQ tests rather than in place of them.

The TOMAL-2's closest competitor is the Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning, now in its third edition. According to Pearson, the WRAML-3 was published in 2021, covers ages 5 through 90, and takes about 70 to 90 minutes for a full administration. You can read our full breakdown in the article on the WRAML-3 at https://www.riotiq.com/articles/specific-iq-tests-and-formats/what-is-the-wraml-3.

A few contrasts are worth noting. The WRAML-3 extends through age 90 and carries much newer norms, while the TOMAL-2 stops at age 59 and its norms date to 2007. The TOMAL-2 counters with breadth at the index level, offering nine composites against a leaner core structure, and a shorter 30-minute core battery. For adults specifically, many clinicians instead reach for the Wechsler Memory Scale, which we cover in our guide to the WMS at https://www.riotiq.com/articles/specific-iq-tests-and-formats/what-is-the-wechsler-memory-scale. Test selection usually comes down to the examinee's age, the referral question, and how much testing time is available.

Memory tests have a particular vulnerability: taking one changes you. If an examinee has seen the word list or story before, the second administration measures partly what the test intends to measure and partly memory for the test itself. Researchers call these gains "practice effects," score increases driven by memory for specific items, learned strategies, and growing test sophistication.

The evidence here is extensive. A meta-analysis by Matthew Calamia and colleagues in The Clinical Neuropsychologist summarized nearly 1,600 effect sizes from repeated neuropsychological testing and found that gains depended on the use of alternate forms, the examinee's age and diagnosis, and the length of the test-retest interval. The video above walks through the same problem on IQ tests: a retaken test can produce a score that looks higher without any real change in ability.

For the TOMAL-2, this cuts two ways. Its selective reminding and learning-curve subtests deliberately use repetition within a single session, which is a feature. Between sessions, though, examiners have to space out retests and interpret gains cautiously, because a higher score on a familiar word list is weak evidence of recovered memory. The publisher's test-retest data (most coefficients above .80 for composites) describe score stability, and clinicians layer practice-effect corrections on top when tracking change after an injury.

According to PRO-ED, the TOMAL-2 is normed for ages 5 years 0 months through 59 years 11 months.

The core battery takes about 30 minutes. Adding the supplementary subtests and delayed recall tasks brings the total to about 60 minutes.

No. It measures memory and learning, which correlate only modestly with intelligence test scores in observed data. Evaluators typically administer it alongside an IQ test to see whether memory is a specific strength or weakness.

Subtests yield scaled scores with a mean of 10 and a standard deviation of 3. The nine composite indexes use the standard mean of 100 and standard deviation of 15, with percentile ranks.

No, and trying would defeat its purpose. Prior exposure to the items inflates scores through practice effects, which is why examiners control retest intervals and interpret repeat administrations carefully.

The TOMAL-2 (2007) covers ages 5 to 59 with nine composite indexes and a 30-minute core battery. The WRAML-3 (2021) covers ages 5 to 90 with newer norms and a longer full administration of about 70 to 90 minutes.

The TOMAL-2 remains a widely used option when the question is how well a school-age examinee stores and retrieves information, particularly in learning disability, ADHD, and brain injury evaluations. Its results are most informative next to a sound measure of general ability, since memory and intelligence are related but distinct.

For adults 18 and older who want a rigorous baseline on the ability side, the RIOT IQ test (the Reasoning and Intelligence Online Test), developed by RIOT IQ with psychometrician Dr. Russell T. Warne, measures 15 subtests across six cognitive indices: verbal reasoning, fluid reasoning, spatial ability, working memory, processing speed, and reaction time. It takes about 52 minutes and reports scores on the standard mean-100, standard-deviation-15 scale, including a working memory index that speaks to the same short-term retention skills tapped by batteries like the TOMAL-2. It does not replace an individually administered diagnostic evaluation; it does give you a strong first look at where you stand. You can take it at https://www.riotiq.com/.

1. PRO-ED. (2007). TOMAL-2: Test of Memory and Learning, Second Edition, complete kit [Product description]. proedinc.com

2. Schmitt, A. J., & Decker, S. L. (2009). Test reviews: Reynolds, C., & Voress, J. K. (2007). Test of Memory and Learning: Second Edition. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 27(2), 157-166. eric.ed.gov

3. Thaler, N. S., Allen, D. N., McMurray, J. C., & Mayfield, J. (2010). Sensitivity of the Test of Memory and Learning to attention and memory deficits in children with ADHD. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 24(2), 246-264. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

4. Allen, D. N., Leany, B. D., Thaler, N. S., Cross, C., Sutton, G. P., & Mayfield, J. (2010). Memory and attention profiles in pediatric traumatic brain injury. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 25(7), 618-633. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

5. Schneider, W., & Niklas, F. (2017). Intelligence and verbal short-term memory/working memory: Their interrelationships from childhood to young adulthood and their impact on academic achievement. Journal of Intelligence, 5(2), 26. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

6. Calamia, M., Markon, K., & Tranel, D. (2012). Scoring higher the second time around: Meta-analyses of practice effects in neuropsychological assessment. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 26(4), 543-570. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

7. Pearson. (2021). WRAML3: Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning, Third Edition [Product description]. pearsonassessments.com

Hero photo: A knot tied in a handkerchief as a reminder not to forget something. Photo by Bärbel Miemietz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).