Interleaving

Study related skills or concepts in parallel.

If you'd like to try a new technique to accelerate your learning, consider interleaving: the practice of studying multiple related items in parallel.

Steven C. Pan from Scientific American writes:

Enter “interleaving,” a largely unheard-of technique that is capturing the attention of cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists. Whereas blocking involves practicing one skill at a time before the next (for example, “skill A” before “skill B” and so on, forming the pattern “AAABBBCCC”), in interleaving one mixes, or interleaves, practice on several related skills together (forming for example the pattern “ABCABCABC”). For instance, a pianist alternates practice between scales, chords, and arpeggios, while a tennis player alternates practice between forehands, backhands, and volleys.

— Steven C. Pan, Scientific American

Further study:

• The Interleaving Effect: Mixing It Up Boosts Learning — Scientific American