Building Your Recall System
Key principles for designing and running a Spanish irregular-verb spaced-repetition deck in ten minutes a day.
Keyboard Shortcuts
💡 Pro tip: Use keyboard shortcuts for faster studying!
Study Smart Tips for Building Your Recall System
Master these concepts using proven study techniques that actually work:
Active Recall
Test yourself before flipping each card to strengthen memory retention
Spaced Repetition
Review difficult cards more frequently than easy ones
Multiple Sessions
Break study time into shorter, focused sessions
Explain Aloud
Verbalize answers to reinforce understanding
Questions Covered in This Set
10 cards to master
What is an 'atomic conjugation card'?
One verb, one tense, one person, one answer — e.g. FRONT: tener — pretérito — nosotros / BACK: tuvimos.
Why are whole-conjugation-table cards a mistake?
They pack six facts into one card, so you can never grade yourself honestly.
Which two situations require drilling all six persons?
Present indicative of boot verbs (nosotros/vosotros break the pattern) and the preterite of strong verbs (irregular unstressed endings).
What are the strong preterite endings?
-e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron — no accents.
What are the three card types and their proportions?
Production ~70%, derivation ~20%, cloze-in-context ~10%.
What does a derivation card teach?
The stem map — e.g. decir → dij- feeds pretérito, imperfecto de subjuntivo, and futuro de subjuntivo.
Recommended Anki settings?
One deck (Español::Verbos), FSRS on, 8 new cards/day, max 60 reviews/day.
Where should your first cards come from?
Your Lesson 1 diagnostic errors — not an internet verb list; start with 20–25 cards.
Name the ten workhorse verbs to prioritize.
ser, estar, ir, haber, tener, hacer, poder, poner, decir, venir.
Two rules for the daily 10-minute drill?
Say every answer out loud before flipping; if recall took over three seconds, press Hard, not Good.
