When it comes to revision, there is often a long list of suggestions from educators, senior students, and even parents on what works best to achieve high grades. Essentially, effective revision techniques combine both consistency and accuracy. Interleaving and blocking practice are prime examples of this, which also play huge roles in memorisation techniques.
Both interleaving and blocking are widely used in revision, and in this article, we’ll explore how applying them effectively can help students achieve the best learning outcomes.
Interleaving and Blocking as Revision Methods
- Interleaving is a studying method where you mix or alternate between topics in a revision session.
- The blocking method involves focusing on studying only one entire topic at a time.
- Interleaving caters to more long-term memory retention, while blocking caters to learning new materials.
- To have optimal revision for different subjects, it's best to combine both methods, where you start with blocking, followed by interleaving for complete reinforcement.
🔄 What is Interleaving Practice?
First, let’s explore the meaning of interleaving. In essence, interleaving is the practice of switching between different but interconnected skills, concepts and topics when you are learning something within the same period 1. This practice is widely applauded for these three main characteristics:
Integrates attention and variety during learning
- Breaks down the learning period for different sub-topics instead of one whole topic
Encourages comparison and memory retrieval
- Reviews the similarities and differences through active recalling and connecting the dots
Facilitates critical thinking and application
- Trains your brain to come out with different methods to solve different problems
Switching between different topics for one subject allows learners to have a better attention span and activate their long-term memory through germane cognitive load instead of looking at a large amount of similar concepts or questions, which could cause their working memory to overload.
Interleaving practice applies to both academic and non-academic fields, whether it's for mathematics, language, humanities or music. Let's look at the following subject revision examples, which apply the interleaving practice:
Subject: A-level History
📍30 minutes of Mussolini's Italy
📍30 minutes of Stalin's Russia
📍30 minutes of Hitler's Germany
All three topics revolved around strong leadership, totalitarianism and dictatorship, but differ in contexts and direct methods, helping students to compare and remember the
Subject: GCSE Mathematics (AQA)
📍25 minutes of algebra questions
📍25 minutes of geometry questions
📍25 minutes of probability and statistics questions
All three topics require different working methods, which helps students to build conceptual understanding across different topics instead of just repeating one working solution for all questions
⏹️ What Is Blocking Practice?
Next, let's look at the significance of blocking practice. Blocking is when you solely focus on one single topic, skill or concept within the same period (usually for an extended time). Instead of switching, students are repeating the same concept or task.
Blocking is one of the most practised studying methods among students due to these three reasons:
Creates a strong foundation
- Becoming good at a specific topic from the basics, especially if it's something new
Manages cognitive load for working memory
- Dedicated time to focus on one topic alone instead of juggling multiple topics
Builds confidence through repetition
- Embodies the principle of practice makes perfect through visible progress
Here are some revision examples which apply the principles of blocking:
Learning field: Piano
One hour of practice (three days in a week) for only C major scales for both hands for an absolute beginner to master the right finger placement before moving to complex scales with multiple key signatures
Learning field: Foreign language (like Korean)
Spending an hour of practice to write out the Korean alphabets (three days a week) so that you can identify and read them correctly before moving to full sentences.
⚖️ Interleaving vs. Blocking: Which Is Better For Learning/ Revision?
Now that we have reviewed both learning methods, let's dive deeper into their differences 2 and respective applications to create a more effective and engaging revision experience.
Interleaving
- Good for varied and integrated learning
- Aims to build long-term retention and comprehension
- Can feel challenging as the brain needs to switch between topics
- Improves long-term memory through active recalling, idea integration and retention
Blocking
- Good for focused and repetitive learning
- Aims to build initial confidence and familiarity
- Can feel easier as the brain only focuses on one topic, feels more predictable
- Improves working memory (short-term) but has weaker retention
Our recommendation? Get the best of both worlds by using both of these strategies as shown in the following stages of learning:
Both learning strategies have their benefits and drawbacks, and serve different purposes. It's best to start with blocking to build a strong foundation of new skills and topics before applying interleaving to strengthen your active retrieval practice for long-term retention.
In terms of revision, interleaving is seen as a better revision method 3 because it enables the brain to actively retrieve and recall information to apply it in different contexts, which is in alignment with the format of most assessments.
However, blocking does play a supportive role in revision, as it helps refresh your understanding and rebuild confidence when revising a difficult topic. This can be done especially when you perform repeated exercises to overcome your weaknesses in a specific concept, such as trigonometry questions.
🎯 Easy Steps to Apply Interleaving For Long-term Learning
Improving long-term learning is a top priority for students at all levels. That's why interleaving is widely encouraged to solidify deep learning beyond memorisation. If you are totally new to interleaving, here are three easy steps to kickstart:
Step 1
Mix learning topics and format
Step 2
Practice spaced repetition
Step 3
Reflect and review
While you mix and rotate different but interconnected learning topics of a subject, make sure to also include varied assessment formats for question practice, such as multiple-choice questions, short structured questions, and essay questions. Here's an example for a psychology topic (social influence):
- 20 multiple-choice questions on confirmity
- 5 short structured questions on obedience
- 1 essay question on crowd and collective behaviour
After mixing your learning topics, it's time to spread them to strengthen your memory retention over time, in a spaced interval (after one day, three days, a week).
This is another learning technique that is often paired with interleaving to boost long-term memory retention through increasing intervals. Many students use flashcards to practice this technique to actively recall the information that they have learnt from earlier revision sessions.
Finally, it's important to reflect on your interleaving session. Start by asking yourself some questions about the difficulty level of what you have studied (topics or skills), and what worked or didn't work the most throughout the session.
Take your time to review the challenges that you may have encountered and come out with possible solutions to have a more effective session the next round. This process is known as metacognition, where you think about what you think.
🚫 Common Mistakes Students Make In Interleaving
Next, let's explore some common mistakes students tend to make while applying interleaving.
Mistake 1
Starting interleaving too early without understanding the basics
Mistake 2
Mixing completely unrelated topics or subjects instead of subtopics within a subject
Mistake 3
Not tracking all the interleaving topics that you plan in a systematic schedule
📚 Explore Various Learning Techniques in Psychology on Superprof
Now that you have discovered the benefits of both interleaving and blocking, you might want to explore other learning techniques that are widely practised in the field of psychology. Perhaps you might be interested in diving deeper into the role of cognitive science in education.
Whether you are taking psychology for your GCSE, A-level, undergraduate or even postgraduate degree, we highly recommend that you learn better with the help of an experienced psychology tutor here at Superprof.
At Superprof, your psychology tutor will offer you personalised learning according to your learning goals, learning levels, and learning preferences. Of course, he or she would certainly help you to implement learning techniques such as interleaving, blocking, and spaced repetition efficiently for the best revision experience. To connect with an experienced psychology tutor, head to the Superprof UK homepage and start browsing a wide selection of psychology tutors who are based in your city.
Take your time to review the essential information listed on each tutor's profile, including their teaching experience, qualifications, tutoring methodology, subject specialisation, online reviews of past students, and hourly rates. Once you have decided on the tutor, contact them directly via the message feature on their profile. 97% of Superprof tutors offer their first lesson for free, so be sure not to miss this amazing opportunity!
We hope you have found this article insightful! May you enjoy the benefits of applying interleaving and blocking during your revision sessions. All the best in your psychology learning journey!
References
- Nguyen, H. P. (2021, June 11). How to use interleaving to foster deeper learning. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-use-interleaving-foster-deeper-learning/
- InnerDrive. (2024, November 25). What is Interleaving, and why does it work? | InnerDrive. InnerDrive. https://www.innerdrive.co.uk/blog/interleaving-and-why-it-works/
- L2L Strategy - Interleaving. (n.d.). Academic Affairs. https://academicaffairs.arizona.edu/l2l-strategy-interleaving
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