Using Your Daily Plan
The Daily Plan is the backbone of Hanlexon. It assembles a balanced study session for you each day — vocabulary, reading, grammar, writing, conversation, and review — all sized to fit a normal day. Here's how to use it.
What's in a Daily Plan?
Every Daily Plan has five sections, each tuned to your level and progress:
- Review. Vocabulary cards from your spaced repetition queue. These are the highest-priority activity — doing reviews on time is what makes Chinese stick.
- Learn. A small batch of new vocabulary words (typically 5-10), pulled from the next section of your HSK level.
- Read. A short reading passage matched to your level, with pinyin and translation available on demand.
- Write or Speak. A short production task — either writing a sentence using today's new words, or having a brief conversation with Prof Hanlexon.
- Quiz. A 5-minute mixed quiz that combines today's new content with recent material, so the new words start moving into long-term memory.
How Long Does It Take?
A typical Daily Plan takes 20-30 minutes. If you only have 10 minutes, do your reviews — that's the activity with the highest payoff for retention. Save reading and writing for days when you have more time.
If you have an hour, do the full plan and then revisit the parts you struggled with. The Review tool lets you redo any past session.
Why Consistency Beats Volume
Research on second language acquisition is consistent on this point: 20 minutes daily beats 3 hours on the weekend. There are two reasons:
- Memory consolidation happens overnight. Studying every day gives your brain repeated opportunities to convert new vocabulary into long-term memory. Cramming on weekends bypasses this process.
- Spaced repetition only works if you show up. The review intervals are calculated assuming you'll review on time. Skipping days means cards pile up, which makes the next session feel overwhelming.
What If I Miss a Day?
Don't try to make up missed days by doubling up. Just resume your plan the next day. The spaced repetition system automatically adjusts: cards you missed stay in the queue and reappear when you return, with no penalty.
If you've missed more than a week, your review queue will look intimidating. Two strategies work:
- Cap the queue. Set a "max reviews per day" limit (in Settings) so you don't burn out. The rest will catch up over a few days.
- Reset and re-diagnose. If you've been away for months, take the diagnostic test again and start fresh at the level it recommends. Your progress isn't lost — it's just rescheduled.
Adjusting Your Plan
The Daily Plan adapts automatically based on your performance, but you can also tune it manually in Settings:
- New words per day — lower if you're feeling overwhelmed, raise if you have more time and the reviews feel easy.
- Reading length — short, medium, or long passages.
- Skill emphasis — if you're preparing for an HSK exam, you can weight the plan toward listening and reading. If you're going to live in China, weight it toward conversation.
Your First Week
Here's what to expect in your first seven days on Hanlexon:
- Day 1: Take the diagnostic test. Hanlexon places you at your level. Your first Daily Plan appears.
- Day 2-3: The plan feels light — mostly new content, very few reviews (because you haven't studied anything yet). This is normal.
- Day 4-7: Reviews start to build up as cards from earlier days come due. The plan starts to feel "real."
- End of week 1: You should have 30-50 vocabulary words in your active queue. Your daily session takes 15-25 minutes.
By the end of month one, the rhythm is set. By month three, the daily habit is automatic.
Ready to Start?
Create a free account, take the 2-minute diagnostic, and your first Daily Plan is ready.
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