Open KotoNexa and your deck is already waiting. It isn't a random pile of cards, and it isn't just "whatever is next". Every session is carefully put together from words at different stages of learning, in a fixed, balanced proportion.
This is the heart of Smart Review. Here's what goes into your deck, why the mix looks the way it does, and how it keeps every session productive.
The recipe: 30 / 30 / 20 / 20
Your deck size comes from your daily word target, which you set yourself (10 words by default). Smart Review then fills that deck from four stages of learning:
- 130% New
Fresh words you haven't met yet. This is your forward progress through the level.
- 230% Started
Words you've answered once. The second meeting is where a new word starts to stick, so these get an equal share.
- 320% Improving
Words you've seen a few times and are still building. Regular practice turns them from familiar into known.
- 420% Finalizing
Words one correct answer away from Learned. Every session gives you a real chance to finish some words off.
Words that are already Learned aren't in the mix at all. They've earned their place in your Learned list, and your daily time goes to words you're still working on. (New to the stages? Start with How Smart Review Works.)
Why a balanced deck feels so different
A good study session needs two things at once: the excitement of new words and the satisfaction of words finally clicking. The mix gives you both, every single day.
- You never stall. New words are always part of the deck, so you keep moving through your level.
- You never drown. New words are capped at roughly a third of the session, so they never crowd out the words you're building.
- You finish words regularly. Finalizing words appear in every session, which means regular "Learned!" moments that keep motivation high.
- Nothing gets forgotten in the middle. Started and Improving words have their own guaranteed share, so half-learned words keep moving instead of sitting untouched.
Every session should move you forward and lock in what you've started. The 30/30/20/20 mix makes sure it always does both.
Your deck is always full
What happens on day one, when you have no Started or Finalizing words yet? Or near the end of a level, when you've run out of New words? Smart Review handles this automatically.
Short on New words near the end of a level? Their share is filled from the stages that come after, so the deck still reaches your daily target.
If a stage doesn't have enough words to fill its share, the gap is filled by words from the next stage along. And if there's still room after that, any remaining words top it up. The result: as long as you have words left to learn, you always get a full session, from your very first day to your very last word in a level.
Within each stage, words are shuffled, so you never memorise the order of the deck instead of the words themselves.
A fresh deck every day
Each new day, Smart Review builds a brand new deck from wherever your words stand right now. Finished your target early and still feel like studying? Ask for more words and keep going. Change your daily target and the deck is rebuilt to match.
Because each deck is built from your current progress, not from a calendar, a missed day never comes back to haunt you. That's such an important part of Smart Review that it has its own article: Miss a Day Without Paying for It.
You choose what goes in
The mix is built from the words you've chosen to study. Pick one or several JLPT levels, from N5 to N1, then narrow it down to the topic categories you care about, or study every word in a level at once. Each category shows how many of its words you've learned, so you can see exactly what's left.
The daily deck in short
- Deck size = your daily word target.
- Mix = 30% New, 30% Started, 20% Improving, 20% Finalizing.
- Learned words stay out of the deck, in your Learned list.
- Short stages are filled from the next stage, so the deck is always full.
- A fresh deck is built every day from your current progress.
Get your first balanced deck
Sign up free, set your daily target and KotoNexa builds your first Smart Review session instantly.
