Coming back from a loooong hiatus

Hi everyone! I used to use WaniKani a lot back in 2015, right before I went off to college. Once college started life got kind of hectic and I disappointingly abandoned it altogether. 3 years later here I am, and I had around 1400 reviews at the start.

I’ve managed to whittle it down to about 900-1000, but what I noticed is that I’ve basically forgotten all of the more recent cards, and only remember the ones I repetitively drilled from levels 1~10. I consistently only get 35-40% right for every review session, and at first I was determined to pull through it. However it seems like I keep getting the same ones wrong and it’s becoming a bit taxing on my motivation. The problem is that I go through 300-400 a day (getting about half of them wrong) so I don’t remember the corrections for the next day, and consequently get 150-200 of the same ones wrong that next day.

Is there anything you guys can recommend me do? Should I just pull through it, go through all 1000 reviews to see which ones are the real problem cards, and just drill the ones I keep forgetting slowly until I get them all right? Is there any other solution? lol thanks guys

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Considering that WK just went through a major overhaul (there’s a stickied thread), whereby many radicals’ names were changed, some kanjis’ main readings were changed, and various items were moved around to new levels, it seems like resetting to a lower level would be a good way to handle it.

If you were merely returning from a long gap, fighting through it would be one thing, but you’re coming back to something that just changed a bunch anyway.

2 Likes

Hey, meowchelle! Glad to see your smiling face back on WK :smile:

A few options:

  • Wanikani has added the ability to reset your level back to the level of your choice. You could, for example, reset back to Level 10 if that seems to be the cutoff of what you remember well. Also, WK has shortened the fastest level-up speed by 1 day per level, so you could get back up to 16 faster if that matters.
  • You could pause your account temporarily (vacation mode) and drill level by level, maybe using [Self-Study Quiz], until you feel like you’ve got them memorized more strongly. The quiz script lets you select items by level, SRS level, etc., so for example, you could choose your Level N apprentice items for quizzing. There’s also an Additional Filters script that lets you select Leeches – items that you get wrong repeatedly – for quizzing.
  • Regarding the changes that Leebo mentioned… There’s an interface somewhere on Wanikani that lets you choose to see the old or new mnemonics, assuming you rely on the built-in mnemonics enough for it to matter. I’m done with WK, so I haven’t really seen what all has changed.
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Thanks for your thoughtful reply! I had a question about vacation mode (which could probably be answered with an easy search but) when I put vacation mode will the “days left” I have of my monthly subscription simply be put on halt until I resume? Or will it only halt my reviews and when I come back will have to pay for another month of subscription?

Hi Meowchelle! Subscriptions don’t freeze when you’re on vacation mode. But, if you cancel your subscription and put yourself into vacation mode, it kind of will do what you want, I think.

Welcome back!

5 Likes

Can I please have an Undermind title??? <3 (I know the answer…but still should ask :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: )
IWouldNeverAskForAnotherThingEverKoichi

Alan D. is fine but to be the Undermind has been my dream since starting on oxygen.

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