Leitner System: Best Way to Improve Your Memory

Preparing for exams can be stressful. Most students are afraid that they will forget an important answer or blank out during the exam. While studying hard is important for exams, it’s equally important to know some tricks to ace your tests. The Leitner System is a great way to enhance efficiency and confidence. The Leitner System is a learning technique that involves spaced repetition. This technique is used by students preparing for competitive exams like UPSC, NEET, JEE or SAT and GMAT where the syllabus can be overwhelming. Keep reading to learn more about the learning technique!

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What is the Leitner System?

The Leitner system is one of the most popular learning tools used by students and teachers. Founded in the 1970s by a German Science journalist, Sebastian Leitner. The technique focuses on the concept of spaced repetition to enhance brain power and learning. The technique primarily uses flashcards to make learning and memorising concepts easier. Rather than cramming everything in one go, students are encouraged to space out learnings over periods of time. Learners in the Leitner System devote different periods to studying specific flashcards and concepts, based on their own needs or preferences.

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How to use the Leitner System?

Here’s how the technique works-

• Create a flashcard and make sure it is one card per concept.
• Label three to five boxes with study periods. For example, one box is to be reviewed every day, the second box is to be reviewed on Tuesday and Thursday. The third box is to be reviewed on Saturday.
• Make sure you add your study time to the calendar as it will help the execution of the technique in an organized manner.
• After putting some flashcards in box 1, actively recall the concepts mentioned in those flashcards. If you succeed then move those cards into box 2 which you get to review on alternate days.
• Then on alternate days, review and recall the concepts mentioned in the flashcard of box 2. If you do it successfully, then move those cards to box 3 which you get to revise just once a week.
• If you fail to recall the concepts mentioned in the flashcards of box 2, then once again you will have to shift those in box 1.
  • Box 1 — Every day
  • Box 2 — Every 2 days 
  • Box 3 — Every 4 days 
  • Box 4 — Every 9 days
  • Box 5 — Every 14 days

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Advantages of the Leitner System

This technique offers a plethora of benefits-

1. This technique facilitates active recall of the concepts to be learned for our exam. Active recall helps in storing information in long-term memory. Active recall is much better than passively reading new and complex information because passively reading a concept is of little or no use.
2. It improves the memorization process of students. 
3. It facilitates spaced repetition and is relatively much easier than just cramming information in one go.
4. By executing this technique, students can attain clarity of their strong and weak concepts. This clarity helps in studying smartly and effectively revising for exams.
5. It is a less time-consuming technique and ensures efficiency, especially in theoretical subjects like history, business studies, political science, etc.

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That was all about the Leitner system! To ace, your exams, execute this technique at the drop of a hat and see the results yourself. For more insightful blogs like these and regular abroad education updates, follow Leverage Edu on Facebook, Youtube, Instagram and LinkedIn.