The purpose of this study was to investigate how exposure to classroom instruction affected the use of a computer simulation that was designed to provide students an opportunity to apply material presented in class. The study involved an analysis of a computer-based crisis communication case study designed for a college-level public relations course, comparing students taking the course with students having no public relations exposure. The results showed that while the total scores were almost identical for both groups, there were differences in the types of questions the groups tended to score higher on. Also, there were differences in how each group navigated through the simulation. Differences in learning styles had a greater impact on those without public relations exposure than those taking the public relations class. The results indicate that instructional simulation designers need to account for the influence that classroom instruction will have on student performance during these types of simulations. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)