The contrast between these two methods is usually described in the literature as massed versus spaced (or sometimes distributed) learning. In massed learning, students focus entirely on one skill or set of material until they have mastered it; in distributed practice, students space out their learning sessions over time. At the end of the study periods for both groups in this experiment, the students were given a vocabulary test on the words; both groups averaged about 16 of 20 words correct.
