The best tarot spread is obviously the celtic cross tarot. Learning tarot can be quite easy if you start with this very popular spread. But if you still find this spread difficult, you can start with a 3 card spread, each one focusing on one aspect of the time: past, present and future.
Another exercise that is worthwhile doing is the meditation on tarot. With this you simply take each day a random tarot card and meditate on it. You look at it and try to understand its meaning for your life right now. Also it’s worthwhile keeping a tarot journal where you write your spreads and experiences with reading tarot cards. This way later on you can look back to see how much you have just evolved since you first started with tarot.