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How to Drill Words in Recognition Mode

Maya drills 2-letter words every morning on her commute. She has an 82% mastery rate after 47 days of consistent drilling. Recognition mode is how casual players build the vocabulary that wins games — knowing that ZA, QI, and XI are valid before your opponent plays them on a triple word score.

When to Use Recognition Mode​

Recognition is best for:

  • 2-letter words (the highest-impact starting category)
  • 3-letter words
  • Hooks (front and back hooks on common words — BATE→ABATE, LONG→ALONG)
  • Vowel dumps (words that use multiple vowels efficiently)

Steps​

  1. Go to the Study tab and find your category (e.g., "2-Letter Words").

  2. Check mastery — the category card shows your current mastery percentage and word count. Tap the card to see the category detail.

  3. Tap "Start Drill" — the drill session begins.

  4. Answer each word — a word appears on screen. Tap:

    • "Valid" — if it's a legal Scrabble word
    • "Invalid" — if it isn't

  5. See immediate feedback — after each tap, the correct answer is revealed with a brief context note (e.g., "ZA — informal for pizza"). Words you got right show a green confirmation; words you got wrong show the correction.

  6. Continue through the session — the default session length is 20 words. Words you've missed recently (from your SM-2 review queue) appear first. New words from the category come after.

  7. See the session summary — after 20 words, the summary shows:

    • Words drilled
    • Accuracy for this session
    • New words learned
    • Streak update (day count increments if this is your first session today)

  8. Return to category list or start another session.

How Spaced Repetition Affects Which Words Appear​

The app uses SM-2 spaced repetition. Words you've gotten wrong recently come up first. Words you've mastered with high consistency get longer review intervals and appear less frequently. If you haven't opened the app in a few days, you'll have a queue of overdue words — those appear at the front of your next session.

Expected Outcome​

  • Session completes with accurate/incorrect feedback on every word
  • Accuracy and streak update on the session summary
  • Per-category mastery percentage updates on the Study tab

Tips​

  • Maya's pattern: short daily sessions (6 minutes) at consistent times. Consistency matters more than session length for spaced repetition to work — 5 minutes every day beats 35 minutes once a week.
  • If you keep getting a word wrong, tap it after the session on the Progress tab → category detail view to see its full drill history. That word will keep coming back until you hit it consistently.

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