A few self-directed exercises build real intuition for Russian's most distinctive features even before a structured course exists.
For each new verb you learn, write both its imperfective and perfective form on the same card, along with one example sentence for each — reinforcing that they're a pair to learn together, not two unrelated verbs.
Take a single noun and write out its form across all six cases, checking your work against a reference. Repeating this with different nouns (across genders) builds the ending patterns faster than reading a grammar table once.
When you learn a new word, look up and mark its stress in your notes immediately, then say it aloud using that stress — building this into your normal vocabulary routine prevents stress guesswork from becoming a bad habit.
Flashcards that pair a verb's imperfective and perfective forms together with one example sentence each, reinforcing them as a pair rather than separate vocabulary.
Pick a noun and write out its form across all six cases, checking against a reference — repeating this across different nouns and genders builds the ending patterns through repetition.
Because building the habit of always knowing a word's stress — rather than guessing — pays off in both listening comprehension and speaking accuracy.
That's the plan, mirroring the vocabulary, listening, and matching practice modes already in Tarc's existing courses.
See also: Russian Study Tips · Russian Grammar · Learn Russian