Review algorithm
Word stages
Every word in your dictionary sits at a stage, from "Don't know" to "Automatic". It measures not how good you are, but how reliably this particular word comes to mind right now. The stage changes after every encounter and decides when the word shows up again.
The five stages
A word moves through them in order, though not always forwards — it can fall back.
- "Don't know" — not studied yet, or forgotten.
- "Familiar" — recalled slowly, or with a hint.
- "Remember" — recalled on your own, but it takes effort.
- "Confident" — recalled confidently.
- "Automatic" — recalled instantly, with no thinking involved.
How a word moves between stages
Tomyo never asks how hard it felt — it looks at the outcome. You answer an exercise, and the answer counts as either right or wrong. A right answer moves the word forward, a wrong one sends it back.
The fall is noticeably steeper than the climb: one mistake sets a word back further than one correct answer advances it. That is deliberate. Otherwise your dictionary fills up with words you recall only approximately — and those are exactly the ones that fail you in conversation.
Why a word returns even at a high stage
A stage is not a diploma awarded for life. Even a word at the highest stage keeps surfacing occasionally: without that it quietly fades, and you find out at the worst possible moment. The difference between stages is not whether a word returns, but how rarely.
Until a word settles in, the gaps between encounters stay short even if you answer correctly several times in a row. That way it accumulates repetitions over weeks instead of stalling for months after one lucky guess.