There are nine ways to study a set in Paira. The short version: use Flashcards for words you have never seen, Match or Quiz while you are still recognising them, and Write, Test or Scramble once you should be able to produce them. Smart Learn does that sequencing for you if you would rather not think about it.
Meeting words for the first time
- Flashcards — you read the pairing and mark whether you knew it. No pressure, no scoring against you. Worth 1 XP per correct answer, the lowest, because it asks the least.
- True or False — one statement, two options. Fast and easy on a phone. A correct answer counts for half a mastery level, since a coin flip is right half the time. Also 1 XP.
Recognition
- Match — the tile game the app is built around. Pair terms with definitions against the clock, or without it. Both variants earn 2 XP per correct answer, and the timed one adds a combo multiplier.
- Quiz — multiple choice against plausible wrong answers. 2 XP. The workhorse for the middle stage of learning a word.
- Listening — the word is spoken and you answer from sound alone. 2 XP. The only mode that tests the version of the word you will meet in conversation.
Production
- Write — type the answer from memory, with typo tolerance for diacritics and single slips on longer words. 2 XP.
- Scramble — build the word from letter tiles. 3 XP, the highest of any mode, because you have to know the spelling and not merely recognise it.
- Test — a mixed paper across the set, for checking where you stand rather than for learning. 2 XP.
Or let it choose
Smart Learn assigns the format per word from that word's mastery: flashcard at 0, multiple choice at 1 and 2, typing at 3 and above. Get one wrong and it drops back to the easier format rather than repeating the question you just failed. It earns 2 XP per correct answer.
How Smart Learn decides which format a word gets
Does the mode change what gets scheduled?
Not the schedule itself, only how much a correct answer counts toward it. Every mode writes to the same per-word mastery, so a word you drill in Scramble is a word that shows up correctly spaced in Quiz tomorrow. Switching modes does not restart anything.
The one exception is reading, which awards XP per chapter rather than per correct answer, because there is no answer to be correct about.