Which practice approach involves breaking a skill into components before integrating them?

• A. Part practice
• B. Massed practice
• C. Variable practice
• D. Mental practice

Answer: (A)

Part practice is about breaking a skill into its component parts and practicing each one separately before putting them together. This approach helps learners handle complexity by isolating difficult elements, reducing errors, and building a solid foundation for the whole movement. Once the individual parts are well established, they can be combined progressively, leading to smoother integration and better performance when executing the full skill.

The other approaches don’t focus on segmentation. Massed practice emphasizes long practice sessions with little rest, not breaking skills into parts. Variable practice involves practicing with different conditions to improve adaptability, not specifically component isolation. Mental practice uses imagery to rehearse the skill without physical movement, so it doesn’t involve practicing the separate components of the movement physically.