diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c8bc5462fae224de31b1cc3a74b7ad63517d087e..7db78f7a6c2635ddca216da240ff0f4ac2ae692e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -54,6 +54,12 @@ No.  Just use **mkioc**.
 
 No.
 
+#### Why does the solution branch use ~ instead of /home/beams/USERNAME in the solution branch?
+
+The solution branch uses `~` instead of `/home/beams/USERNAME` in paths because it was the only way to make the solution branch build for everyone without requiring files to be edited.
+
+The use of `~` is highly discouraged; only absolute paths should be used in RELEASE files.  A negative side effect of using `~` in the path to `MOTOR_VMC` in the IOC's **RELEASE** file, is that `MOTOR_VMC` doesn't appear in the IOC's **envPaths** file.  This wasn't a problem during the training becase the IOC doesn't load anything from the motorVMC module at runtime.
+
 ## The solution branch
 
 Both the xxx and motorVMC repos have a **solution** branch with tags for each step that: