Knowing Knowledge
Section 03

Interleaving

Mixing problem types makes a practice session look worse and a later test look better. These entries separate the effect, which is reasonably robust, from the explanation most often given for it, which is tested only indirectly.

Woman writing in a notebook while reading from an open textbook at a desk
FIG. 01Part-erased and reworked: mixed practice leaves a session looking less finished than it is.Photo: Polina Tankilevitch / Pexels