The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of the load increment ratio on the soil consolidation properties. For this purpose, a laboratory test of one-dimensional consolidation was carried out using a conventional oedometer. In this work, the fundamental principles of the one-dimensional consolidation theory were presented and the parameters used for the settlement calculation were defined. Two soil samples were subjected to a constant total axial stress with different load increment ratios. One test was carried out with the standard loading sequence commonly used in practise, the other with an alternative loading scheme consisting of small load increments. The effects on the consolidation behaviour of the soil were investigated by observing the compressibility parameters and the consolidation properties. The results for the compression index, swell index and pre-consolidation pressure showed no significant differences. However, in the tests with alternative loading sequence, the time–displacement curves show a different shape than the one based on the onedimensional consolidation theory. For this reason, it was not possible to correctly estimate the coefficient of consolidation. Several other studies have shown that the magnitude of the load increment ratio strongly influences the shape of the time–displacement curve, which can be explained by the change in the primary consolidation ratio of the total settlement. It was concluded that although small increments are desirable to determine the preconsolidation stress and compressibility parameters with greater accuracy, they may hinder the evaluation of the coefficient of consolidation and time settlement interpretation.