Break it Up

When you are studying something, you must decide if you want to study the whole subject or break it up into chunks. If you break it up into chunks, you should study the first part until you have learned it fully before moving on to the second chunk and so on. With the whole method, you study the whole thing from start to finish over and over until you have learned it. The most effective method depends on the study topic.

An advantage of the whole method is that the entire subject will be in context and you will know how each section relates to the others. If the subject is difficult to divide, the whole method may work better. Material with distinct parts will make using the part method easier. When using the part method, you will need to spend extra time putting each piece back together into the whole picture. The more material there is, the more beneficial the part method becomes.

An advantage of the part method is that you will get quicker feedback about your progress because you will be testing yourself more often. With the whole method, you will not have any feedback until you have studied the whole thing for a longer period of time. People who need feedback might prefer the part method. People who have used the whole method before understand that they are making progress even if it might take longer to realize it.

Additionally, you could combine the two methods. You could review the entire subject a few times and then break it up into parts. Then combine it all at the end and review the whole thing. Or, you could use a progressive part system. With this, you start with a part and each time you add a chunk, you study everything learned so far. For example, you would start by studying part 1. Then you would study parts 1 and 2 together and finally parts 1, 2, and 3 as one piece.