Syllabus coverage
- Explain whole practice
- Explain part practice
- Explain whole-part-whole practice
- Explain progressive part practice
- Explain massed and distributed practice
- Explain fixed and varied practice
- Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using each type of practice to improve and develop skilled performance
Part of the AS Level PE 8386 syllabus 8386.
What the choice of practice actually does
Practice is how a skill becomes permanent. The type of practice decides how much the performer has to think about, how much fatigue builds up, and how well the skill survives when conditions change.
The syllabus groups the eight types into four decisions, and the performer's stage of learning and the type of skill settle most of them. Get into the habit of asking three questions before naming a type: can the skill be broken into parts without losing its feel, is it open or closed, and is the performer a beginner or experienced?
- Whole or part: can the skill be separated without losing its feel?
- Fixed or varied: does the skill happen the same way every time, or does it change with the environment?
- Massed or distributed: how much rest does the performer need, for learning or for fitness?
- Whole-part-whole or progressive part: if you break the skill up, how do you put it back together?
Whole practice
In whole practice the skill is taught and repeated in its complete form, from the start of the movement to the finish, with no attempt to separate it into parts.
It suits skills that are fast, discrete, highly organised and self-contained, where the subroutines run into one another so quickly that stopping to practise one of them would destroy the timing of the whole. A badminton overhead clear, a tennis serve or a cricket bowling action are good examples: the preparation, the strike and the follow-through are one continuous action.
Its main advantage is that the performer develops the feel of the complete movement (kinaesthesis) and the timing and flow between the parts, so the skill is stored as one action. Its main disadvantage is that a beginner may be overloaded with information, and if the performer keeps making one specific error, whole practice makes that error hard to isolate and correct.
| Advantages of whole practice | Disadvantages of whole practice |
|---|---|
| Develops the feel of the complete movement and the timing between subroutines, so the skill is learned as one fluent action | Can overload a beginner who has to process too much information at once |
| Good for fast, discrete, highly organised skills where the parts cannot be separated without losing the timing | Hard to identify and correct one specific fault, because the performer never stops at the part that is wrong |
| Saves time compared with taking the skill apart and rebuilding it | Unsuitable for complex or dangerous skills where a mistake in one part puts the performer at risk |
| Suits experienced performers in the associative and autonomous stages, who already have the subroutines and need to refine them together | A beginner may repeat the same error over and over, which can become a habit |
Part practice
In part practice the skill is broken into subroutines and each part is practised separately, then the parts are joined together.
It suits skills that are complex, low in organisation and serial, where the subroutines are distinct enough to be separated and practised in isolation. A tennis serve broken into toss, backswing, contact and follow-through, or the leg action of a competitive swimming stroke, are typical examples.
Its advantage is reduced overload: the performer concentrates on one small piece of the skill and can correct a specific fault, and a dangerous part can be practised safely at low speed. Its disadvantage is that the performer may not develop a feel for the whole skill or the timing between the parts, so the practice can fail to transfer when the parts are put back together.
| Advantages of part practice | Disadvantages of part practice |
|---|---|
| Reduces information overload, so a beginner can concentrate on one subroutine at a time | Loses the feel and timing of the whole skill, because the parts are memorised separately |
| Allows a specific weak subroutine to be isolated, practised and corrected | The parts may not recombine well: the performer can do each part but cannot perform the skill fluently |
| Useful for complex, low-organisation, serial skills | Time-consuming, because each part is practised before the whole skill is ever attempted |
| Safer for dangerous elements, which can be practised slowly and under control | Unsuitable for fast, continuous or highly organised skills, where the parts run into each other too quickly to separate |
Whole-part-whole practice
Whole-part-whole begins with the whole skill, then takes out the weak part and practises it alone, then puts it back into the whole skill.
The sequence matters: the performer sees and feels the complete action first, so they understand where the part belongs. Then the faulty subroutine is isolated and drilled. Then the whole skill is performed again so the corrected part is re-integrated into the complete movement.
This gives the benefits of both whole and part practice, which is why coaches use it for a performer who can already do most of a skill but has one persistent fault. Its disadvantage is time: it is the most time-consuming of the whole and part options, and it only works if the corrected part genuinely transfers back into the whole action.
- Step 1: perform the whole skill and diagnose the weak subroutine
- Step 2: practise the weak subroutine in isolation, with feedback, until it is correct
- Step 3: perform the whole skill again so the corrected part is re-integrated into the complete action
- Best for: an experienced performer with one persistent fault, such as a javelin thrower whose release angle is wrong but whose run-up is sound
- Weakest for: beginners with no reliable whole movement to return to, and skills where one part cannot be practised safely in isolation
Progressive part practice
Progressive part practice teaches the subroutines in order and links each new part onto everything learned so far. If a skill has parts A, B and C, the performer practises A, then A and B together, then A, B and C together.
The linking is the point. Each new part is added cumulatively, so the performer never practises a part in isolation from the parts it depends on. It suits serial skills built up from a chain of actions, such as the sequence of a tennis serve, where each element relies on the position left by the one before it.
Its advantage is that it builds the skill in a logical, reinforced order and always rehearses the links, so the finished movement has the correct timing. Its disadvantage is that it is slow, and it does not help a performer who has one fault in an otherwise complete skill, because the whole skill is never performed until the end of the progression.
| Practice | Order of work | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|
| Part | A, then B, then C, then join them | Complex, low-organisation skills; isolating a dangerous or difficult subroutine |
| Progressive part | A, then A plus B, then A plus B plus C | Serial skills built from a chain of actions, where each part must link to the last |
| Whole-part-whole | Whole, then weak part, then whole | An experienced performer with a specific fault in an otherwise sound skill |
| Whole | The complete skill every time | Fast, discrete, highly organised skills; experienced performers refining timing |
Massed and distributed practice
Massed practice is practice with little or no rest between trials, so the performer works continuously or in blocks with very short breaks. The rest time is shorter than the practice time.
Distributed practice builds in rest intervals between trials or between blocks, so the rest time is longer than or similar to the practice time. The performer gets recovery and, importantly, time to process feedback and think about what to do next.
The choice is a trade-off between learning quality and fatigue. Massed practice builds fitness and lets a performer rehearse a skill under the tiredness of game conditions, but fatigue causes technique to break down, errors to creep in and concentration to drop. Distributed practice supports better learning and retention, especially for beginners and complex skills, but it takes more total time and does less for physical conditioning.
| Massed practice | Distributed practice | |
|---|---|---|
| Rest between trials | Little or none; practice time is longer than rest time | Regular rest intervals; rest is longer than or similar to practice time |
| Advantages | Builds fitness and endurance; efficient when session time is short; prepares the performer for using skills while tired; good for simple, discrete skills that need repetition | Allows recovery, so technique stays correct and injury risk falls; gives time for feedback to be processed; better for learning and retention, especially for beginners and complex skills |
| Disadvantages | Fatigue causes technique to break down, so errors and bad habits are rehearsed; concentration drops; boredom and injury risk rise; poor for dangerous or high-intensity skills | Time-consuming; warm-up and focus may be lost during long breaks; develops little fitness; unsuitable when a session is short or when repeated volume is needed |
Fixed and varied practice
Fixed practice repeats the skill in the same conditions every time, so the same movement pattern is grooved. Varied practice changes the conditions, so the performer has to adapt the same skill to different situations.
Fixed practice suits closed skills and performers in the cognitive and early associative stages, because it lets them repeat a stable technique until it is consistent. A tennis serve, a table tennis forehand or a badminton overhead clear practised from the same spot at the same speed is fixed practice. Its disadvantage is that it does not prepare the performer for anything different: the skill works in the practice hall and fails when the ball arrives at a different height or speed.
Varied practice suits open skills and performers in the associative and autonomous stages, because the skill has to be adjusted to the environment. Changing the speed, the direction, the height or the number of opponents builds a wider range of movement experiences, which develops the schemas that allow a movement to be adjusted rather than reproduced. Its disadvantage is that a beginner may never develop a consistent basic technique if the conditions keep changing.
- Fixed practice: same conditions, same movement, each repetition grooved
- Varied practice: conditions changed deliberately so the performer adapts the movement
- Closed skills and beginners lean towards fixed practice
- Open skills and experienced performers lean towards varied practice
Key terms you must be able to define
- Whole practice
- Practising the skill in its complete form from start to finish, with no separation into parts.
- Part practice
- Breaking the skill into its subroutines and practising each part separately before joining them together.
- Whole-part-whole practice
- Performing the whole skill, isolating and practising the weak part on its own, then performing the whole skill again to re-integrate the corrected part.
- Progressive part practice
- Practising the first part of a skill, then adding the next part onto it and rehearsing them together, continuing until the whole skill has been built up.
- Massed practice
- Practice with little or no rest between trials, so the practice time is greater than the rest time.
- Distributed practice
- Practice with rest intervals between trials, so the rest time is longer than or equal to the practice time.
- Fixed practice
- Practice in which the conditions stay the same and the same movement pattern is repeated each time.
- Varied practice
- Practice in which the conditions are changed so the performer has to adapt the movement to different situations.
Applied to your sport
Cambridge requires you to apply this knowledge to physical activities. Use these as models, then write your own for the sport you play.
A serve can be learned with whole practice, because preparation, toss and strike are one continuous action, but a player in the cognitive stage may use part practice to isolate the toss. Later, varied practice, serving to different parts of the box against a returning opponent, builds the ability to adjust.
Fixed practice of the overhead clear grooves a consistent technique and a repeatable contact point. Varied practice then changes the feed so the player must clear from different positions, at different heights and under different levels of pressure.
Pre-season conditioning sessions often use massed practice, because the aim is fitness and producing technique while tired. Skill work, where technique must stay correct, is distributed, with rest between repetitions so the player is not rehearsing errors.
A swimmer learning a stroke uses part practice on the leg action and the arm action, then progressive part practice links the arm action onto the leg kick before the whole stroke is swum.
A bowling action is a fast, discrete, highly organised skill, so it is best learned whole. Bowling at the same target from the same run-up is fixed practice, while bowling in a match, to different batters with a field set for each one, is varied practice.
A player who can only drive the ball straight from a fixed feed has not learned the skill. Varied practice against a live opponent forces the drive to be adapted to different positions, which develops the schemas needed in a match.
Flashcards
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Exam-style questions
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Mark scheme — tick each point you actually made
Mark scheme — tick each point you actually made
Mark scheme — tick each point you actually made
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Mark scheme — tick each point you actually made
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Exam technique for this topic
- Learn the eight types in four opposite pairs: whole and part, massed and distributed, fixed and varied, and the two ways of rebuilding a broken-up skill (progressive part and whole-part-whole).
- Every evaluate answer needs at least one disadvantage. Two advantages and no disadvantage loses the evaluation mark.
- Anchor each type to the skill it suits: whole for fast, discrete, highly organised skills; part for complex, low-organisation, serial skills; fixed for closed skills; varied for open skills.
- Use the performer as well as the skill. A type can be right for an autonomous performer and wrong for a beginner, and saying so shows application (AO2).
- Keep the terms exact: the syllabus says varied practice, so do not write variable practice.