The number on the screen is a number, not a grade.

The number showing the number of reviews due on the home screen looks like a grade when you read it that way. Twelve means twelve cards. Not “you’re bad.” The widget in DeutschSprechen shows this number and a few current vocabulary words—three through seven. You create flashcards in the app. The box is just a reminder.

For a while, I avoided looking at the number when it was high. Then it got even higher. Since then, I’ve been checking it in the morning and doing eight in the evening. Not all of them. Eight.

What to Do with the Number

Over twenty: no new words. Eight due ones—review them again, or I already know them, honestly. Under five: two new sentences, out loud, with an example sentence from the day. In between: just the stack. Repeating due items is the plan. The quota of ten new ones isn’t. SRS—one day, three, seven, thirty, ninety—fills the evening all on its own if you stick with it.

The number goes down when you practice or when you archive familiar words that you’ve truly mastered. It shouldn’t go down because you delete cards just to appease the box. A quiet box with an empty mouth is the expensive option.

When the number lies

Freezing after a few days, even though you’ve studied: Check battery saver mode, delete the widget, save in the app settings, reset. Empty: you set the frame before the app knew what was supposed to go in it. Open the login screen once, save it, and pin it again. Android and iPhone differ in the gesture, not in this order. The words are stored locally. The number comes from there, not from a cloud you’re waiting for.

Read in the morning, practice in the evening

Don’t swipe inside the box. It doesn’t work there, and that’s a good thing. A quick glance on the train. In the evening, the flashcards—two at a time, out loud. That one word from the screen in a sentence. Overdue reviews that you merely glance at remain overdue. The number is a door. The card is the room.

Switch between current vocabulary words on the widget. What you’ve mastered doesn’t need to stay there. The number can still be high because other things are shaky. Both can be true at the same time.

Here’s how to set it up: Widget. What “handful” means: Vocabulary Words.

No Grades on the Mirror

Pending reviews are a number. Flashcards are the work. I don’t write down the number or compare it to yesterday as a character test. Twenty yesterday, fourteen today because I did eight: that’s fine. Four yesterday, four today, because I didn’t open the deck: just a number. Eight tomorrow. Or a sentence, if the evening is short. One card out loud lowers the number by one if you honestly swipe it. That’s enough on a bad day. Not zero. Zero isn’t a goal. A small number is the result of sentences, not proof that you’re done. “Done” is not a word that lasts forever. In ninety days, some things will return. The widget will then show a number again. Read it. Make it eight. Go. If it’s over twenty, no new heroic deeds. Eight old ones. Two out loud. The rest will still have the same patience tomorrow. The number won’t get angry. It waits on the screen until you read it as a count and not as a judgment. Twelve flashcards. Eight today. The rest tomorrow. No new ones as long as the number is over twenty. Two sentences aloud, the rest honestly wiped away. The widget remains a number. Don’t write the grade next to it. Flashcards forgive the rest. They don’t forgive you for deleting them just to make the box look smaller. Take another look tomorrow. Then eight. Then close it. The number is just a number. Nothing more. Eight cards are enough.

DeutschSprechen shows the repetitions due. You’ve failed yourself by not giving yourself that grade. Eight cards. Then close it.