You'll go through one session from the first card to the summary, and know what each exercise asks of you and what to do if you have to stop halfway.

What you need

• A deck with cards in it. If you don't have one yet, import a word list first.
• A few minutes. A session holds 10 cards unless you've changed Cards per session in Settings.

1. Start the session

On Home, click the big button at the top. With a new deck it reads Start Learning. Later its label tells you what's waiting:

If you have one active deck, the session opens straight away. With more than one, a Choose a deck list opens under the button. Pick a deck. (On the web, when nothing is due yet and only one deck has new cards, that deck starts straight away.) When two or more active decks with cards to study share a language pair, the list also has a Mixed review from row that studies them together in one session.

You can also start from a deck's own page. The button there uses the same labels.

Note: On iOS and Android, tap the same button on Home or on the deck screen. The deck list and the mixed-review row work the same way.

2. Answer a flashcard

A card that's due or new always starts as a flashcard. You see one side of the card and try to recall the other.

1. Click or tap the card to turn it over. On a computer, Space does the same by default.
2. Say whether you knew it: click Got it! or swipe the card right if you did, and click Not yet or swipe the card left if you didn't.

A card you get right leaves the session. A card you miss comes back a few cards later, again as a flashcard, until you get it right.

In your very first session, a short coach line walks you through this loop on the first flashcards. On the first card it shows how to turn the card over and which button to pick: Got it! if you knew what it means, Not yet if it's new to you. On the next card it asks you to try it yourself, and once you have, it sums up the loop (flip, answer, repeat) and goes away. While a coach line is showing, it takes the place of the progress bar at the top.

What a right or wrong answer does to the card's next review is covered in How Vocards decides when a word comes back.

Note: On iOS and Android the buttons are Not yet and Got it!. Swipes go the same way: right if you knew it, left if you didn't.

Note: When you're learning Japanese, Chinese or Cantonese, a card can carry the word's reading, as furigana, pinyin or Jyutping. It stays hidden while the word is the question, and appears above the word with the answer.

Hear the word

Each side of the card has a speaker button. On a new account the word you're learning also plays by itself when the card appears. To stop that, open the gear at the top of the session and, under Auto-play, switch off Expression. Persian and Uzbek have no audio, so their speaker is grayed out.

Hide a card for good

The middle button, Don't show again, takes the card out of your sessions without deleting it. The notice that confirms it has Undo in case you clicked it by mistake.

3. Answer the quizzes

In a first session most cards are new, so you'll mostly see flashcards. Quizzes turn up here:

• Near the end of a session. When one or two cards are left, cards you already got right are mixed back in, often as a quiz.
• On practice cards. When fewer cards are due than the session holds, cards that aren't due yet fill it up. A practice card you've studied before can be a quiz from the start.

Quizzes are extra practice. A wrong answer never counts against the card, and a right one doesn't move it up.

Multiple choice

The card shows one side under Pick the correct translation, with four options. Pick one. The card moves on by itself after a moment. Show example, when the card has a suitable sentence, gives you a hint.

Gap-fill

An example sentence from the card appears with the word missing. Under Fill in the gap, pick the word that fits. Show translation shows the sentence in your own language.

Typed answer

You see the card's translation under Type the word and type the word you're learning. The row of underscores shows how long it is. Click Check or press Enter.

If the language has letters your keyboard may not have (é, ñ, ü, ł and so on), a row of them sits under the field. Click one to type it, and use ⇧ for a capital.

If you're stuck:

• Hint fills in the next letter.
• Use letter tiles gives you shuffled letters to tap in order instead of the keyboard.
• No typing this session stops typed answers until this session ends. Your saved setting stays as it is.

How your answer is judged:

• Correct! means it matches.
• Correct! Mind the accents: means only the accents differ, and they don't change the word. It counts as right, and the accents you missed are marked.
• Almost – check the spelling: means a small typo. It counts as right, and the correction is marked.
• Anything else shows the correct spelling against yours. Click Continue to move on, or I was right if your answer should have counted.

A right answer stays on screen with the word, its speaker and an example sentence when the card has one. Click Continue when you're ready for the next card.

Sometimes a missing accent makes a different word, like Spanish si and sí. Then you see So close. and get one more try to add the accent. If the second try is still missing it, the answer counts as wrong.

Capital letters never matter. Beyond accents, answers of up to four letters must be spelled exactly, answers of 5 to 12 letters allow one slip, and longer ones allow two.

Typed answers only appear for answers of up to two words and 24 characters. They're never used when you're learning Japanese, Chinese, Cantonese, Arabic, Hebrew or Persian.

4. Keep track and fix slips

The bar under the header has one segment per card. It fills as cards leave the session, with the number graduated and remaining above it.

The buttons at the top of the session:

• The curved arrow, Undo last answer, takes back your last answer and shows the card again. It goes back one answer only.
• The speaker mutes or unmutes sound.
• The gear opens Learning Settings: You see first (pick a language), auto-play for each side and playback speed.
• More options (the three dots) has Edit Card, so you can fix a typo on the card without leaving.

On a computer, the keyboard shortcut for each action is shown under the card.

Note: On iOS and Android, undo, mute, the gear and the three dots sit in the same order at the top of the screen.

5. Leave and come back

To stop halfway, click Exit at the top left. There's no confirmation. Every answer you gave is already saved.

Once you've answered at least one card, the session waits for you on Home as a row with the deck name and its progress.

• Click the row to carry on where you stopped.
• To end it instead, click the ✕ on the row, Abandon, and confirm. On a computer the ✕ appears when you point at the row. The cards you already answered keep their progress.

If cards were added to the deck while you were away, you're asked first: New cards available. Pick Restart with new cards to start over with them, or Continue to finish the old session.

An unfinished session closes when a new study day starts at 4:00 AM. Your answers are kept.

Note: On iOS and Android, the ✕ at the top leaves the session, also without asking. To end a waiting session on iOS, swipe the row or long-press it. On Android, long-press it.

6. Read the summary

The session ends when every card in it has been cleared. The summary opens with Great job! and a ring showing how many cards reviewed, split into up to three groups:

• Easy: right the first time.
• Tough: you missed it at least once before getting it right.
• Lapsed: a word you'd already learned and missed today, so it drops back.

Click a group to see its words. If any card moved up a level, a line under the ring says how many. Click it to see which.

Then pick what's next:

• Keep practicing appears when the deck has more cards than the session held. It starts another session on the deck. Any cards still due or new in it count as usual. The rest are practice and keep their review dates.
• Otherwise the first button is Keep learning, which starts a new session on the deck.
• Suggest more cards opens the deck to add more cards.
• Done for today ends there and takes you back to Home.

Note: On iOS and Android, the button that starts a new session reads Keep the streak rolling, and Done for today closes the summary and returns to the app's tabs.

7. Change the exercise mix

Open Settings from your account menu and choose Exercise mix.

Flashcard is marked Always on, because only a flashcard answer moves a card forward. Multiple Choice, Gap-fill and Typing each go from Off through Rarely and Sometimes to Often. On a new account all three are at Sometimes.

The bar at the top shows the share each type gets, and the line under it says how often you'll be asked to type. The choices set how likely each type is. They don't set a fixed order.

The mix only changes the quizzes on repeat cards and practice cards. A card that's due always starts as a flashcard, whatever you set here. How it works on the page explains why.

To drill one exercise type on its own, open Practice instead. Practice rounds never change your schedule.

Note: On iOS and Android, open the Settings tab and tap Exercise mix. The page has the same rows and choices.

What you'll see

• During the session, the bar at the top fills one segment per card cleared. In your first session it steps aside while a coach line is showing.
• At the end, the summary with your Easy, Tough and Lapsed groups.
• On the deck page afterwards, the level bar shows where your cards now sit.

Limits

• Undo goes back one answer only.
• Typed answers are limited to answers of up to two words and 24 characters, and aren't offered for Japanese, Chinese, Cantonese, Arabic, Hebrew or Persian.
• Quiz answers never move a card up or down. Only flashcards do.
• An unfinished session closes at 4:00 AM in the time zone saved in your settings.

If something goes wrong