Compare whole practice and part practice with a sport example where each would be most appropriate.

• A. Whole practice practices the entire skill; Part practice breaks down; Example: whole practice for a basketball shot; part practice for complex gymnastics floor routine.
• B. Whole practice is always better for all skills; Part practice never used.
• C. Part practice should replace whole practice for complex tasks.
• D. Whole practice is used for low-intensity tasks only.

Answer: (A)

Whole practice means practicing the entire movement sequence in one go. It’s most effective when the skill is relatively simple, has a natural flow, and you want to develop timing and coordination across the whole action. For a basketball shot, you would perform the shot from receiving the ball through to release and follow-through in one continuous motion, helping you train the feel, rhythm, and correct sequencing of legs, hips, arms, and wrist.

Part practice, by contrast, breaks the skill into components and trains those parts separately. This is especially useful for complex or highly technical tasks where isolating and refining each element first can reduce errors and build a solid technical foundation before putting everything together. In a complex gymnastics floor routine, you would practice individual elements or segments—tumbling passes, leaps, turns, and landings—on their own, then gradually string them together to work on transitions and overall routine coherence.

The takeaway is that some skills benefit from keeping the action whole to preserve timing and flow, while others benefit from breaking the task down to manage complexity and technique. The basketball shot illustrates the former, and the gymnastics routine illustrates the latter.