Leitner box for names: a paper setup and worked review

To run a paper Leitner box, each card needs a cue, an answer, a box number and a due date. This guide supplies those fields, rules for moving cards and a worked review you can follow with four envelopes. For the learning principle behind the system, start with spaced repetition explained.

For people, the front of the card needs a cue that identifies the person. A permitted photo is one option. A specific shared encounter can work as a cue when you have no photo.

To use a Leitner box for names: put a person's photo or a specific meeting cue on the front of a card and their checked name on the back. Try to say the name before turning the card over. Move a correct card to the next box and give it a later due date. Return a missed card to box one, check the right name and schedule another attempt sooner.

Set up four boxes and a date field

You need cards, a pen and four envelopes, dividers or boxes. Label them one to four.

Use this schedule for the worked example:

Box	Next review after a completed attempt
1	Tomorrow
2	In three days
3	In seven days
4	In fourteen days

Write a due date on each card. Cards in the same box can have different dates because you may have reviewed them on different days.

Birmingham City University's revision guide recommends flashcards and the Leitner system. The exact rules and intervals here are our four-box variant. Other variants use different intervals or move a missed card down one level. The aim is a schedule you can operate. These dates are not a proven best set of intervals for learning names.

Make one card you can check

Imagine you met Farah while volunteering. Here is a fictional card:

FRONT
Showed me how to label the repair kits on Saturday

BACK
Farah
Met at the repair session
Box: 1
Due: tomorrow's date

Read the front and try to supply “Farah.” Then turn the card over and check it. If two people helped with the kits, the cue is too broad. Add a specific shared action or use a photo you are allowed to keep. Check the person’s name before making the card.

For a photo card, hide any caption or filename that gives away the answer. Check pronunciation before rehearsing a name you are unsure how to say.

Learn a new card before scheduling it

Read the checked name with its cue. Say the name and confirm the link to the person. Put the card in box one with tomorrow as its first due date. That first look is study. The next review asks whether you can supply the answer after a gap.

If you want to try once immediately, treat it as a check of your card. Keep tomorrow's review in place. A name that is still on the tip of your tongue has not yet been tested after a day away.

Run a review from start to finish

Choose cards whose dates are today or earlier. Keep their answers hidden.

For each card:

1. Read the cue or look at the photo.
2. Say or think of the name.
3. Turn the card over and compare the answer.
4. Mark whether it was correct without help.
5. Move the card and write its next due date.

• Correct: move up one box. Use the new box's interval from today's review. A correct card already in box four stays there, with another fourteen-day wait.
• Wrong, blank or needed a hint: check the name, return to box one and write tomorrow as its due date. Read the correct name with the cue before putting the card away.

If you need full names, a first name alone is incomplete. Choose the answer standard before the session so the marks mean the same thing across cards. A hesitant but correct answer can stay in the same box if you want a shorter wait. Keep that choice consistent rather than changing the rules halfway through a session.

A worked week with a miss

Suppose you make Farah's card on day zero.

Review day	What happens	Box afterwards	Next due day
0	Read and learn the checked card	1	1
1	Say Farah correctly before checking	2	4
4	Cannot recall the name, then check Farah	1	5
5	Say Farah correctly	2	8
8	Miss the session	2	Still 8
11	Return and say Farah correctly	3	18

The day-eleven answer is one attempt on an overdue card. The next date is seven days after the review you actually completed. We checked this table with a scripted walkthrough of these rules. It is a fictional scheduling example, not a memory result from a person using the method.

Make cards for the names you want to learn

Download a blank card template as a CSV. It has four columns: cue, name, box and due date. Copy a row for each person you want to practise. Enter the checked cue and answer, start the box at one and write tomorrow's date after the first study. On paper, keep the answer, box and date on the back so you can cover them while trying the name.

The Farah example shows how to fill one card. You can use it to walk through the moves in the table without learning a set of fictional people. When you are ready to practise real names, replace it with cues you can use to identify those people.

Resume when a card is overdue

A card keeps its due date until you review it. When you return, attempt the overdue card once and calculate the next date from that completed attempt, as day eleven shows above. You do not need a separate attempt for each missed day.

If more cards are due than you have time for, choose the people you expect to see soon. Leave the other dates visible. The spacing guide's restart plan explains how to reduce a backlog without resetting all your progress.

What the research supports

In Carpenter and DeLosh's experiments, undergraduates learned names from photos. Spaced recall helped retention, while expanding gaps did not beat equal gaps. These were short laboratory tasks, rather than tests across days. That supports including recall attempts and gaps. It does not validate our four-box dates, a fixed number of cards per day or guaranteed recall at a busy event.

Keep the answer hidden until you have tried the name, then check it before moving the card. The box number records your scheduling choice. It is not a grade for how well you know the person.