Leitner Boxes

In the 1970s, the German science journalist Sebastian Leitner described a simple way to study with cards. It uses the idea of spaced repetition, but you only need paper, a pen and some boxes. Millions of students have used a version of it, and it works very well for vocabulary.

First, make your cards. Write the English word on the front and the Arabic meaning on the back. Add a short example sentence if you can. Then prepare five boxes. Number them from one to five. The boxes can be envelopes, small bags or even sections of a big box.

At the beginning, all new cards go into Box 1. Each day, you take the cards out of Box 1 and test yourself. Look at the English word and try to say the meaning, or look at the Arabic and say the English. If you were right, move the card to Box 2. If you were wrong, the card stays in Box 1.

The other boxes are reviewed less often. A common plan is: Box 1 every day, Box 2 every two days, Box 3 every four days, Box 4 every week and Box 5 every month. If you make a mistake with a card in any box, it goes straight back to Box 1. This rule is important, because it sends the difficult words back to daily practice.

Why is the system clever? Easy cards slowly travel to the last boxes, where you see them rarely. Hard cards keep returning. You use your time where it is most useful. When a card reaches Box 5 and you still know it, you can take it out, because that word is now part of your long-term memory.

Start with only ten cards a day. A small, steady box is better than a big, abandoned one.