Your first seven days

Aim for a few focused minutes. Repeat a day whenever you need to; this is a suggested routine, not a deadline for mastering the skill.

1. Day 1

   Find your starting point

   Take the free recognition test before studying the chart. Keep your starting score in the browser history. Pick one pair you found confusing; you will return to it later.

   Before you finish: Write down one pattern you want to understand, not a target score.

   Take the starting test
2. Day 2

   Notice the mouth corners

   Compare happiness with contempt. Look at both corners of the mouth, then check the cheeks. Change the example face and describe what stays similar.

   Before you finish: Explain the difference without using the expression names.

   Study happinessCompare contempt
3. Day 3

   Separate fear and surprise

   Work through the two-choice comparison. Both examples have wide eyes. Pay attention to the shape between the brows and whether the mouth stretches or opens.

   Before you finish: Name one brow cue and one mouth cue.

   Try the comparison drill
4. Day 4

   Look at the center of the face

   Compare anger with disgust. Study brow lowering in the anger example, then the nose and upper lip in the disgust example. Avoid choosing from the mouth alone.

   Before you finish: Say which region helped you distinguish the two.

   Study angerCompare disgust
5. Day 5

   Add sadness, then mix the patterns

   Study the inner-brow lift in the sadness example. Review all seven patterns in the chart, then complete a Beginner practice session with immediate feedback.

   Before you finish: After a miss, describe the cue you overlooked before moving on.

   Study sadnessStart Beginner practice
6. Day 6

   Review, then change the speed

   Open your progress and review the expressions you missed. Stay at Beginner if you still need the longer view. If the patterns feel familiar, try Intermediate and compare how it feels.

   Before you finish: Notice whether speed or a particular expression caused the difficulty.

   Practice and reviewExplore the timing difference
7. Day 7

   Retest and choose your next focus

   Repeat the free test at the same half-second exposure. Compare it with your first result in the browser history. Look at the individual mistakes, not only the total score.

   Before you finish: Choose one pair to revisit next week. Improvement on repeated examples is practice progress, not proof of real-world accuracy.

   Retake the test