How to have fun studying The Leitner Method

As a result of the great acceptance of the post how to better remember what you study, I wanted to delve a little deeper into the subject. In that post I wanted to highlight the specific days in which we must review so as not to forget the information studied. However I did not speak about the way to do that review.

For some people that way may simply be re-read what was studied. For other people it may consist of take notes or draw out schemes. Personally, I don't think there is a perfect way to review..

Our personal experience will make us choose the method that is most comfortable for us. With the post you are reading, I want to share a review method that I found curious, even fun (within how much fun studying can be).

This method is called Leitner method in honor of its creator Sebastian leitner.

The Leitner Method

It is a very simple system that consists of inserting cards with information in different boxes. The following image shows its operation in a schematic way.

The logic of the system makes topics that are easier to learn appear less often, while complicated topics appear more times..

What elements do I need to use the Leitner Method?

As you can see in the image, they are only necessary 5 boxes (of shoes for example) and a series of chips (or simple sheets of paper) that you will previously fill in with the information that you consider important. The total number of cards together with the amount of information present in each card is something free, it can be from a simple short question next to its answer to a complete epigraph of the book. Everything will depend on the type of exam and the amount of material that the subject we are studying has..

How does the Leitner Method work?

To use the system, a series of very simple steps are necessary:

1. We fill in all the files with the information that we consider important

This is a basic point before you start using the Leitner system. Otherwise some empty tokens would be of no use.

2. We introduce all the chips in Box 1

The initial position of all the tiles is box 1. From here they will advance positions (or they will return to the starting point in case of forgetting the matter).

3. We are taking each card one by one

And so we check if we remember the answer to each question. If we are working with epigraphs, we will try to mentally evoke the content of each epigraph without reading the book or the file. The chips that we remember will advance one position, in this case they will move to Box 2. The chips that we do not remember will remain in Box 1.

4. We will keep in mind a review calendar

This calendar will tell us how many days are left to do a review again depending on the number of the box.

As you can see, as the chips advance positions, the number of days between each review increases. If the cards reach box 5, it means that we have already learned that information very well and therefore it will not be necessary to do a new review for another month..

Initial Objective of the Leitner Method

The initial goal is to get all the tiles to box 2 during the first review. If in successive reviews we do not remember the information of a card, it will return to box 1 regardless of your position.

That is, if you get a token to reach box 4 but at that moment you fail, it will return directly to box 1.

Final Objective of the Leitner Method

The final objective is that all the cards reach box 5. It is convenient to make an estimate of the time it will take to make it coincide with the days prior to the exam.

I have to admit that I have not put this method into practice yet but I would like to do it soon.