Interleaved practice

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Interleaving is a study strategy where you mix up the order of the topics that you’re studying, instead of reviewing them in blocks.
For example, let’s say you have an exam coming up and you want to make a study schedule to help you make the best use of your time.
One approach is called blocking or massed practice, that’s where you set aside big blocks of time dedicated to each topic you’re studying.
Like spending time studying for topic A, then topic B, before moving on to topic C. In other words, you practice a topic until you achieve proficiency or comfort and then you move onto the next one.
It sort of looks like this: But research shows that the best way to learn material is to actually mix, or interleave, your studying.
So, if you want to learn concepts A, B, and C, then you should mix up what you’re studying, so that it looks like this: So if you’re reviewing the various classes of medications that treat hypertension.
Instead of reviewing all of the ACE-inhibitors, followed by the diuretics, followed by calcium channel blockers, you should mix things up.
If you spend a bit of time reviewing ACE-inhibitors, then calcium channel blockers, then back to ACE-inhibitors again, then go to diuretics, then back to calcium channel blockers, then back to diuretics - you’ll learn faster and remember it for longer.
Even more importantly, interleaving increases the likelihood that you’ll be able to apply the material you learn to new, real world situations.
For example, a study found that medical students who studied electrocardiography using interleaving, were better at reading clinical ECG’s than those who studied using traditional blocking.
The reason interleaving is so effective is that it helps a new learner practice retrieving information. When you review one topic at a time using blocking, you’re focused on the concept itself, rather than how the concept relates to other concepts.
As a result, most of the information remains in your working memory, rather than your long term memory, and it’s easily forgotten.
Interleaving gives your brain the opportunity to consider how different concepts relate to each other, and comparisons requires repeated retrieval of information from long term memory.
Now, it’s worth mentioning that interleaving is a challenging way to learn and requires a lot of organization. And in the short term, it can be harder than massed practice.
Interleaving can be thought of as a "desirable difficulty", meaning that it’s difficult in the short-term, but it’s desirable because it leads to better long-term performance.
All right, as a quick recap... Interleaving is a strategy that involves changing up the order of the topics you are studying, rather than using massed practice where you focus on one thing at a time.
Interleaving can be difficult in the short term, but leads to better long-term outcomes. Happy studying!