{"id":46073,"date":"2021-08-15T06:59:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-15T10:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=46073"},"modified":"2021-08-25T16:31:10","modified_gmt":"2021-08-25T20:31:10","slug":"interleaved-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"Interleaved Practice: Mixed Learning Helps Retention"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-is-interleaving-2\/\">interleaved practice<\/a>? How does it compare to mass practice? Which method is more effective and why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Interleaved practice is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/effective-study-techniques\/\">study technique<\/a> where you alternate between several topics or skills, instead of focusing on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-one-thing\/\">one thing at a time<\/a>. Although it may seem counterproductive to study this way, interleaved practice is actually more effective than massed practice because it boosts retention and emulates real life\u2014where you\u2019ll encounter situations that require a mix of different skills and knowledge.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading to learn about interleaved practice and why it&#8217;s more effective than mass practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Interleaved Practice<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-is-interleaving\/\">Interleaving<\/a> is mixing up your practice among multiple related topics or skills. Interleaved practice improves your comprehension and retention in two ways:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Switching among different topics naturally spaces out your practice in any one area.<\/li><li>Changing your focus among related topics helps you make connections among them, which deepens your understanding of each subject.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The key to interleaving is to switch to the next skill or concept before you\u2019ve finished practicing one.<\/strong> It feels counterintuitive and frustrating to switch gears before you\u2019re ready, which is why teachers and students often resist interleaving.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In fact, in contrast to the momentary strength you get from massed practice, interleaving actually hinders your performance while you\u2019re learning the material. However, in the long term, this method still results in better retention.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In one study, college students learned how to calculate the volumes of four geometric shapes. One group of students solved practice problems that were grouped by the shape, while the other group of students solved an interleaved set of practice problems. That day, students doing massed practice performed better, averaging 89% correct answers, compared to 60% among students who did interleaved practice. However, on a test the following week, the students who\u2019d done interleaved practice averaged 63% correct, whereas the other group dropped to 20%.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Although the interleaved group improved slightly, while the massed practice group dropped drastically, the interleaved group never performed at a level close to the massed practice group\u2019s initial work. The book doesn\u2019t address how the interleaved group could have raised its score overall\u2014perhaps simply by doing more interleaved practice.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Interleaving simulates and better prepares you for the final test\u2014and real life\u2014where you\u2019ll encounter situations that require a mix of different skills and knowledge.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Interleaved Practice Improves Your Discrimination<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Interleaved practice strengthens your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/rote-learning-method\/\">conceptual knowledge<\/a> of the underlying principles, as opposed to a simple surface-level understanding of facts and figures.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The conceptual knowledge you gain through <strong>this method improves your ability to discriminate, or determine what knowledge or which skill you need in various situations.<\/strong> This is a crucial aspect of using what you learn in real-life situations.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In one experiment, researchers asked participants to study several artists\u2019 paintings so that they could look at a piece of art and be able to identify the painter. Some participants used massed practice, studying each artist extensively before moving onto the next, while others used interleaving and switched among different artists.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Interleaving helped participants see the <\/strong><strong><em>differences <\/em><\/strong><strong>among different artists\u2019 works, as opposed to the <\/strong><strong><em>commonalities <\/em><\/strong><strong>in each individual artist\u2019s works.<\/strong> That ability to discriminate helped them identify who\u2019d painted not only the paintings they\u2019d studied, but also paintings they\u2019d never seen before.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is interleaved practice? How does it compare to mass practice? Which method is more effective and why? Interleaved practice is a study technique where you alternate between several topics or skills, instead of focusing on one thing at a time. Although it may seem counterproductive to study this way, interleaved practice is actually more effective than massed practice because it boosts retention and emulates real life\u2014where you\u2019ll encounter situations that require a mix of different skills and knowledge.&nbsp; Keep reading to learn about interleaved practice and why it&#8217;s more effective than mass practice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":587,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,9,43],"tags":[461],"class_list":["post-46073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-psychology","category-self-improvement","tag-make-it-stick","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Interleaved Practice: Mixed Learning Helps Retention - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Interleaved practice is where you alternate between several topics\/skills, instead of focusing on one at a time. Here&#039;s how it works.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Interleaved Practice: Mixed Learning Helps Retention\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Interleaved practice is where you alternate between several topics\/skills, instead of focusing on one at a time. Here&#039;s how it works.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-08-15T10:59:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-25T20:31:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/outliers-violin.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"702\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"461\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"Interleaved Practice: Mixed Learning Helps Retention\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-15T10:59:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-25T20:31:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/\"},\"wordCount\":570,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/outliers-violin.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Make It Stick\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Education\",\"Psychology\",\"Self-Improvement\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/\",\"name\":\"Interleaved Practice: Mixed Learning Helps Retention - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/outliers-violin.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-15T10:59:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-25T20:31:10+00:00\",\"description\":\"Interleaved practice is where you alternate between several topics\/skills, instead of focusing on one at a time. Here's how it works.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/outliers-violin.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/outliers-violin.jpg\",\"width\":702,\"height\":461},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Interleaved Practice: Mixed Learning Helps Retention\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\",\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Untitled-design-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Untitled-design-1.png\",\"caption\":\"Darya Sinusoid\"},\"description\":\"Darya\u2019s love for reading started with fantasy novels (The LOTR trilogy is still her all-time-favorite). Growing up, however, she found herself transitioning to non-fiction, psychological, and self-help books. She has a degree in Psychology and a deep passion for the subject. She likes reading research-informed books that distill the workings of the human brain\/mind\/consciousness and thinking of ways to apply the insights to her own life. Some of her favorites include Thinking, Fast and Slow, How We Decide, and The Wisdom of the Enneagram.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/darya\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Interleaved Practice: Mixed Learning Helps Retention - Shortform Books","description":"Interleaved practice is where you alternate between several topics\/skills, instead of focusing on one at a time. Here's how it works.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Interleaved Practice: Mixed Learning Helps Retention","og_description":"Interleaved practice is where you alternate between several topics\/skills, instead of focusing on one at a time. Here's how it works.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2021-08-15T10:59:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-08-25T20:31:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":702,"height":461,"url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/outliers-violin.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Darya Sinusoid","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Darya Sinusoid","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/"},"author":{"name":"Darya Sinusoid","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46"},"headline":"Interleaved Practice: Mixed Learning Helps Retention","datePublished":"2021-08-15T10:59:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-25T20:31:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/"},"wordCount":570,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/outliers-violin.jpg","keywords":["Make It Stick"],"articleSection":["Education","Psychology","Self-Improvement"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/","name":"Interleaved Practice: Mixed Learning Helps Retention - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/outliers-violin.jpg","datePublished":"2021-08-15T10:59:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-25T20:31:10+00:00","description":"Interleaved practice is where you alternate between several topics\/skills, instead of focusing on one at a time. Here's how it works.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/outliers-violin.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/outliers-violin.jpg","width":702,"height":461},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interleaved-practice\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Interleaved Practice: Mixed Learning Helps Retention"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46","name":"Darya Sinusoid","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Untitled-design-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Untitled-design-1.png","caption":"Darya Sinusoid"},"description":"Darya\u2019s love for reading started with fantasy novels (The LOTR trilogy is still her all-time-favorite). Growing up, however, she found herself transitioning to non-fiction, psychological, and self-help books. She has a degree in Psychology and a deep passion for the subject. She likes reading research-informed books that distill the workings of the human brain\/mind\/consciousness and thinking of ways to apply the insights to her own life. Some of her favorites include Thinking, Fast and Slow, How We Decide, and The Wisdom of the Enneagram.","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/darya\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/outliers-violin.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46073"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46740,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46073\/revisions\/46740"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}