A study session takes over the screen and shows one exercise at a time. A thin layer of controls sits around it: where you are, how long you have, and how to pause, adjust, or stop.
Choosing what to study
Before a session you pick a skill (Vocabulary, Reading, or both), how many items, and the order they arrive in. Recall, Listening, and Typing can be added too; Typing is a Pro skill. Nothing here is a commitment.
Sort
| List order | The order the collection lists its items. |
| Random | Shuffled. |
| Gojūon | Traditional kana order: あ か さ た な… |
Item mix
| Due reviews | An item's skills | |
|---|---|---|
| Auto | Woven in | Spaced apart |
| Reviews first | Due today first | Spaced apart |
| Focused | First | All together, one item at a time |
When your session has a set length, the mix also decides how many different items it covers. With more than one skill picked, Auto and Reviews first cover about twice as many items, a couple of skills of each. Focused covers fewer items, and takes each one through all of its skills.
Auto and Reviews first hold items longer, so they are the usual shapes. Focused works one item through in a go. Sort sets the order items enter the session, whichever mix you choose.
How answer choices grow with you
The first times you meet an item, its wrong answers are the easiest ones to rule out. As you get better at that item they tighten toward the right answer, and other kinds of near miss join them.
Which kinds depends on what the question asks. A meaning question moves toward choices that are genuinely close in meaning. One that asks you to pick the right kana starts mixing in look-alikes from the other script (カ beside か), and at the highest levels kanji that resemble them (力 beside カ). A listening question leans on words that sound alike. It is intentional, not a mix-up.
Harder never means unfair. A choice that would actually be correct is never offered at any level: nothing that sounds exactly like the answer, and nothing that means the same thing.
Controls
The control pill holds a compact row of buttons. Toggles here last for the session.
The pill is also the progress indicator: its background fills from the left as the session goes on, by items answered when you set a number, by time when the session is timed.
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Skip
Move past the item. Not graded, and no change to your review schedule.
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Timer sound
Mute or unmute the countdown. Pronunciation audio is separate and stays on.
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Pause and resume
Stop the clock and open the pause screen. The same button resumes.
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Study settings
Open the settings sheet. Opening it pauses the countdown.
The countdown
A ring in the top corner has three states. It holds the same spot in all of them, so nothing shifts underneath you.
Running
Solid ring, seconds left in the middle. At zero it stays full and the exercise decides what's next: some reveal the answer, some wait for you.
No clock on this item
Dashed, dimmed ring. Applies to items you are still learning while the length is Auto, long-option multiple choice, and every graded item while the timer is off.
Not shown
Absent entirely on a knowledge card or when you work at your own pace.
Pausing
Use the pause control or Esc. A session also pauses itself when you switch apps or take a call, so stepping away costs nothing.
The pause screen shows your progress and these actions:
- Resume: pick the countdown up where it stopped.
- Restart: start the session over from the top.
- Settings: open the settings sheet.
- Quit session: leave.
- Set aside: offered when the item can be named. On an item whose written form is the answer (an audio prompt, or English-to-Japanese typing), naming it would give the answer away, so the row is absent there.
Adjusting settings mid-session
| Applies on Apply | Font, text density, prompt display, pronunciation style, audio |
| Locked once started | Skills, Format, Sort, Item mix (shown locked) |
| Still editable | Timer switch, Session end |
Signed in, Save as default beside Apply carries display and media changes to future sessions; uncheck it and they last for this session only.
Format options
- Timed
- A fixed number of items
- New items plus your reviews
- Your due reviews, including any coming due within the day
A fixed number is a promise: when fresh material runs out, items come around again to fill it. Raise New items for more first encounters instead of repeats.
Keyboard
Anywhere in a session
- Esc pauses the session, or closes whatever is open.
- i opens word details for the item you are on.
- ? hides or shows the hint strips. Your choice is remembered, and nothing moves when they hide: the row keeps its space.
In the exercises
- 1 to 4 pick a multiple-choice answer, or a rating in free recall.
- Enter checks your answer, and reveals it in free recall.
- Space replays the audio in a listening exercise.
The hint strip is desktop-only; a phone has no keys to hint at.
If something goes wrong
One screen covers every failure. It always offers Retry and End Session, and waits for you rather than disappearing.
| Trouble loading exercises | The next item could not build. Answered work is saved. |
| Audio is required | A listening session with sound off. Turn sound on and retry. |
| Trouble saving your results | Retry sends them; End discards them. |
Offline
A banner appears when the connection drops. The current exercise keeps working from what is already loaded, the session stops fetching more, and any unsaved results are held for Retry.
When the session ends
The end screen reports:
- Right out of total, and accuracy
- A per-skill breakdown
- Total time and average time per item
- Missed items, collected into a tappable strip or a short follow-up round
- Mastery shifts: every item that leveled up
Signed in, you also see when items come back and how they spread across the next few days. Signed out gives accuracy and counts, but nothing joins a review schedule.