Leitner box: the 5-box method step by step

What is the Leitner box?

The system is named after Sebastian Leitner, who described it in 1972 in a German-language book on the art of learning, So lernt man lernen. You sort your question-and-answer cards into several compartments, each linked to a review frequency. Cards you know well travel to the boxes reviewed rarely; those that resist stay in front of you.

It is a form of spaced repetition that adapts to your answers. In a 2016 paper, Settles and Meeder describe it as more adaptive than a fixed schedule, since a card's interval gets longer or shorter depending on whether you get it right. It combines two practices that a 2013 review (Dunlosky et al.) ranks among the most useful: testing yourself and spreading your work over time.

How do you build a 5-box Leitner box?

You need index cards and five compartments: a shoebox with four dividers or five envelopes will do. Number the compartments from 1 to 5 and give each one a frequency. The setup below is common, but it is only an example.

Other versions double the interval with each box: one day, two days, four days, and so on. Choose a simple setup that fits your schedule and keep it for a few weeks.

• Box 1: every day.
• Box 2: every two days, for example on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
• Box 3: once a week, on Monday.
• Box 4: every two weeks.
• Box 5: once a month, or before the exam.

How do you use the Leitner method step by step?

Limit the number of new cards per day, for example 10 to 20 depending on the time you have. Otherwise box 1 overflows and the daily session gets too long to keep up.

Sample session, to adjust: 10 minutes in the morning for box 1 and the new cards, 10 minutes in the evening for the other boxes of the day. Slip a piece of paper with the week's schedule into the box so you know which boxes to open.

• Step 1: write a single question per card, with the answer on the back, and put all the new cards in box 1.
• Step 2: every day, take the boxes scheduled for that day, starting with box 1.
• Step 3: read the question and answer out loud or in writing before turning the card over.
• Step 4: if your answer is right, the card moves forward one box; if it is wrong or hesitant, the card goes back to box 1.
• Step 5: a card you get right in box 5 leaves the circuit; keep it aside for a final check before the exam.

Example: Spanish vocabulary in the box

You are preparing the chapter “la ciudad” in Spanish. On Monday, you write 15 cards, including “el ayuntamiento” on the front and “la mairie” on the back, and you put them in box 1. You follow the setup suggested above: box 1 every day, box 2 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, box 3 on Monday.

With this setup, a card you get right at every session reaches box 4 in a week and barely costs you any time. The cards that stall in box 1 show you what to work on, for example words close to another one or learned without an example sentence.

Common mistakes and limits of the Leitner box

The most common mistake is cheating yourself: turning the card over before really answering, or counting an approximate answer as right. The card then moves forward too fast and comes back too late. Another trap: overloaded cards, with three ideas on the back, that you never get entirely right.

The rule of going back to box 1 is strict: a card from box 4 that you narrowly missed starts again from zero. Some people prefer to move it back just one box. And all the cards in a box keep the same pace, even when they are not equally hard for you.

The box suits precise information: vocabulary, dates, definitions, formulas. It does not train you to write an essay or solve a new problem. Making and sorting the cards by hand also takes time, which gets heavy once the deck goes past a few hundred cards.

The Leitner box in digital form, with Fichea

Flashcard software took up the idea with virtual boxes, then went further: instead of five rhythms, it calculates an interval specific to each card. Settles and Meeder note that several flashcard programs use the Leitner system and that Duolingo itself used a variant in its early days.

In Fichea, you create flashcards from your course notes (PDF, pasted text, Word file, or photo depending on your plan) and you check them against the document. Spaced review uses the FSRS algorithm: after each card, you pick Again, Hard, Good or Easy, and the next interval is calculated for that card. The schedule shows the reviews for the next 14 days. These features depend on your plan.

Frequently asked questions