Pick five words you met in real reading this week and write each on its own card, prompt side blank. Recalling from a blank mind, not rereading, is what builds memory, and tomorrow's review will space that recall out.
The practice loop
Do an active recall pass: read the blank side of each card, say or write your answer from memory, then flip to check. Retrieval is the work, so resist the urge to peek first.
Sort honestly into two piles: answers you recalled easily and answers you missed or got slowly. Both results count as information.
Review the missed pile again right away, rereading each word + meaning pair aloud once, then cover and recall it one more time before moving on.
Return tomorrow and repeat the same loop, starting with the easy pile only briefly. Review known words less often and spend your minutes on unfamiliar ones.
Every third day, write a fresh sentence using one recovered word before you put the card back. Producing the word in context tests deeper than recognising it.
If a card survives five easy recalls, retire it for a week or replace it with a harder one. If the missed pile keeps growing past eight cards, shrink the batch and learn fewer new words per day.
A full round with three words
Suppose your three cards today are reluctant, sufficient, and gather. The card for reluctant shows only the blank prompt side first, maybe a context line with the word left out: She was ___ to speak in front of the class.
Say your answer from memory before flipping. If you produce unwilling or unsure, turn the card over and compare. Checking after recalling, not instead of recalling, is the whole point of the exercise.
How slow is too slow? A useful rule: if you needed the context line to jog the word, or you produced a near-miss like nervous for reluctant, treat the card as missed. Half-remembered is not remembered.
Now a card that tests understanding, not recognition. The prompt reads Your friend ate enough lunch and wants nothing more. Which word fits: reluctant, sufficient, or gather? Answering sufficient shows you can apply the word, not just spot it.
Compare that with a weak card like reluctant: yes or no? Recognising a word tells you far less than using it in a sentence. If a card only checks recognition, rewrite it as a small fill-in or choice task.
Finish the round by producing the word: write We gathered enough firewood before dark, or say one sentence of your own for sufficient. This last step is the observable proof that you can use the word, not just remember it.
Checking progress and adjusting
Once a week, run a simple check: count how many cards you recalled easily on the first try and how many you missed. Write the two numbers down. Four easy and one missed out of five is a healthy batch; four missed and one easy means the words are not sticking yet.
A useful concrete test: for each word you think you know, say or write one sentence without looking. If you can do it for most of the easy pile, that pile is genuinely learned, not just familiar.
If you missed half or more, make one adjustment: cut the batch from five new words to three, or drop the newest cards and keep only last week's. A batch you can actually recall beats a bigger one you keep failing.
If you recalled almost everything for several days in a row, space those cards out. Gaps between reviews should grow as a word feels easier; a word you know well after a week does not need daily checking like a new one does.
You can keep timing simple. A box or two of piles, easy and missed, is a workable stand-in for exact schedules; simple spacing systems tend to hold up fine in everyday practice even without precise interval calculations.
Then adjust one thing at a time. Change the batch size or the gap, not both, and run the same weekly count again. One number per week, one change per week, and you will see which change did the work.