Which learning strategy involves spacing study sessions over time to enhance retention?

• A. Distributed practice
• B. Cramming
• C. Multitasking
• D. Desirable difficulty

Answer: (A)

Spacing study sessions over time relies on the spacing effect. By distributing practice across days or weeks, the brain has time to consolidate memories between sessions, which reduces forgetting and strengthens long‑term retention. For example, studying a topic in short sessions daily over a week typically leads to better recall later than cramming in one long session. The other options don’t fit this pattern: cramming is massed practice with little spacing, multitasking undermines focus and encoding, and desirable difficulty is a broader idea about making practice harder to improve learning, not the specific strategy of spacing.