Learn Faster by Mixing It Up

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Hi, this is Ray.

When I was a kid, I was convinced that if I wanted to master the "Hadouken" in Street Fighter II, I had to sit there and perform the exact same thumb motion for three hours straight until my skin was raw and my muscle memory was iron-clad. I applied this same logic to school. If I had a math test on Tuesday, Monday night was "Long Division Night." I would do forty identical problems until I could practically do them in my sleep.

I felt like a genius. I was "in the groove." I was crushing it.

Then, the test would arrive. The first question was long division. Easy. The second question was a word problem involving fractions. Wait, what? The third was a geometry puzzle. My brain, which had spent the last five hours tuned specifically to the "Long Division Frequency," suddenly felt like it was trying to pick up a radio signal in a thunderstorm.

I had fallen into the trap of Block Practice. And while it felt productive at the moment, it was actually making me a "fragile" learner.

The Illusion of Mastery (The Block Practice Trap)

Most of us learn in "blocks." We study Topic A, then Topic B, then Topic C. This feels good because we see rapid improvement during the session. Cognitive scientists call this the Illusion of Mastery. Because the information is currently sitting in your short-term "working memory buffer," you feel like you’ve mastered it.

But here’s the problem: when you do the same thing over and over, your brain gets lazy. It stops "loading" the strategy because the strategy is already there. You aren't learning how to solve a problem; you’re just repeating the last answer.

According to a study published in Applied Cognitive Psychology, students who used interleaved practice (mixing different types of problems) performed 76% better on a delayed test than those who used blocked practice. The interleaved group felt like they were struggling more during the study session, but they actually retained the information significantly better.

Strategy 1: Forcing the "Retrieve and Reload"

Interleaving works because it forces your brain to constantly "reload" the information from long-term memory.

If you do ten division problems in a row, your brain only has to "load" the division rules once. If you do a division problem, then a fraction problem, then a geometry problem, your brain has to "un-load" division and "re-load" fractions.

This "effortful processing" is exactly what builds durable neural pathways. A landmark paper in Journal of Experimental Psychology suggests that interleaving forces the brain to focus on the discriminatory features of a problem. It helps you learn not just how to use a formula, but when to use it.

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Strategy 2: The "Mix-Tape" Study Session

To implement interleaving, you need to stop thinking about "Math Night" or "History Night." Instead, you need to create "Variety Sessions."

If you have three hours to study, don't spend three hours on one subject.

-Hour 1: 20 mins Math, 20 mins French, 20 mins History.

-Hour 2: Rotate the order.

-Hour 3: Review the "weak spots" from all three.

Research into Interleaving and Motor Skills (like playing an instrument or a sport) shows that "Variable Practice" leads to much better real-world performance than "Constant Practice." It’s why great baseball players don't just hit 100 fastballs in a row; they have a coach throw a random mix of fastballs, curveballs, and sliders. They have to learn to read the pitch, not just swing at it.

Strategy 3: Dealing with the "Desirable Difficulty"

I’ll be honest with you: Interleaving feels like a hot mess. You will feel slower. You will get more questions wrong. You will feel like your brain is a computer from 2004 trying to run ten chrome tabs at once.

This is what psychologists call Desirable Difficulty. As we discussed in our earlier series, if it feels easy, you probably aren't learning much. The frustration you feel during interleaved practice is the physical sensation of your brain creating new connections.

According to a meta-analysis on interleaving effects, the benefit of interleaving is most pronounced when the topics are similar but distinct. For example, mixing up different types of physics equations is more effective than mixing up physics and baking recipes. The brain needs to "work" to tell the difference between the related concepts.

My Flashcards are a "Chaos Deck"

I used to organize my flashcards by category. I’d have a "Verb" pile and a "Noun" pile. It made me feel organized. But in a real conversation, people don't just say ten nouns in a row. They mix them up.

Now, I use a "Chaos Deck." I shuffle all my subjects together. I might see a French verb, followed by a coding syntax question, followed by a historical date. It forces my brain to be "agile." I’m not just memorizing; I’m training my brain to be a high-speed search engine that can find the right "save file" regardless of the context.

Your "Interleaving" Protocol

1. The Rule of Three: Never study just one topic in a session. Always pick at least three related but distinct sub-topics.

2. Shuffle the Deck: If using flashcards, always shuffle. Never go through them in the same order twice.

3. The "Problem Set" Hack: If you’re doing textbook problems, don't do all the odds then all the evens. Pick one from the beginning of the chapter, one from the middle, and one from the end.

4. Embrace the Lag: When your brain feels "jumbled," remind yourself: "This is the sound of my brain getting smarter."

Final Thought

We’ve been conditioned to love the feeling of "flow" and "smoothness" in our study sessions. But the truth is that smoothness is a lie. Real learning is jagged, messy, and a little bit confusing.

Stop blocking. Start interleaving. Your future, "test-taking" self will thank you for the struggle today.

I’m off to go shuffle my "to-do" list. I’ve decided to mix "Writing this newsletter" with "Doing the dishes" and "Practicing the ukulele." I’ll let you know if I end up with a clean house or a broken instrument.

Stay agile and mix it up.

Ray