I do all the radicals and kanji lessons as soon as I can after leveling up, and then do the vocab in the next few days whenever I feel like it. My current speed is a bit less than 8 days per level, and I want to keep that up. WK is basically a kanji learning shortcut, so to me it makes sense to get through the app as fast as one can. I used to do the vocab lessons first originally, and tbh apart from it getting in my way of unlocking stuff faster I haven’t noticed any difference in the learning process. Like, my kanji memory doesn’t suffer at all if I learn the new kanji before doing the previous level’s vocab.
Slow and steady wins the race. 
I also thought I was really slow in comparison to some people around here. But overall, the vocabulary has been a real help in solidifying various readings / meanings (although I resented it at first), which has become more apparent as burn items appear.
I’ve already accepted I’m not going to reach level 60 in the space of a year and change, but it’s the journey and not the destination.
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I’m always do things the same way (or at least, this is the most effective way I’ve found to progress) to try and balance things. This is always mapped over the 3d 10hrs, so is applicable whether it’s upon level up or upon hitting the mid-level point having guru’d the radicals :
- do all kanji and radical lessons immediately
- Take the remaining vocab lessons and divide in half, doing the first half at 10am the day after level up and the second half 10am the next day
- hit 0/0 before I hit mid-level or level-up
- do it all again
I finish the radical lessons immediately, kanji over the first 1-2 days, then all the vocab over the next 1-2 days. Completing the previous level’s vocab first would result in a 3 day wait period with 0 lessons available.
Since when you clear all kanji for a level you both level up and get vocab for that kanji, I do it the WK default/vanilla way - learn new items as they are given.
My level-ups land on the weekend so I can plow through new items either in one go or with breaks. However, I might change this approach once I hit higher levels and start seeing more kanji I’m not familiar with.
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I do it the same way. I’m not speed running and my pace is 5 lessons a day. I’ll be hanging around for a while but it’s a great place to be 
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the exact numbers vary a bit depending on the level. but my strategy is to do radicals first, then a mix of vocab (old vocab first, then new vocab) and new kanji. i definitely want to have all the old vocab finished by the time i guru the radicals, and the first set of kanji. ideally to vocab will be so low that i can do all the second wave of kanji together with the last of the initial block of vocab. then over the next 3 days my lessons are only the vocab unlocked from guruing kanji.
after level 13 the number of radicals drops considerably, and with them the number of 2nd-wave kanji. and with them the number of old vocab unlocked as you level up. i think this will streamline my process considerably ^^
Decided to check it for funsies and the prices on Amazon feel like a prank
Maybe you can borrow it from a library? 
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I usually do my radicals first and do my kanji and vocab whenever it becomes available, limiting myself to about 20 lessons per day.
My strategy, that I’ve only applied in the last 2-3 levels has been, clearing some of the previous level vocab right after level, then do new kanji mixed with the old vocab (I usually do batches of 10 lessons a day, so I’d maybe do 5 kanji-5 vocab or some variation depending on the number of kanij and vocab of the level), then I clear the vocab that has unlocked from that first batch of kanji and I mix it with the new radicals, so when I guru the radicals I’ve cleared all the vocab available, that way I get my 0/0, then do the rest of kanji and if already unlocked, more vocab.
I won’t say this is not good advice, but i’ll just add that you don’t necessarily crash and burn if you don’t do all your vocab lessons immediately.
I’m level 60 with 1500 vocab lessons remaining (yes, i’ve often heard i’m doing it wrong), and i’m fine. I’ve finished my first game in Japanese recently (Grandia 2) and am currently having a good time with Final Fantasy 7 and Xenoblade in Japanese. If i encounter a word i haven’t learned yet a few times or seems useful, I add it to my Anki deck.
I’m also having a good time working on getting my WK vocab lessons to 0 though, even if sometimes the vocab feels a bit rare and samey. I didn’t need a kanji repeated x times in vocab to learn it, even if it was often helpful. If you keep learning new things, you’ll get there one way or another.
I guess I’m in the wrong there, sorry. I noticed I was really dependent on it for strengthening nuance and reading, but I also basically used wanikani as my only source for Japanese for the first 30 levels or something. So maybe thats where the difference lies?
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No problem! I do think it’s generally good advice to try to do as much of the vocab lessons as possible. But yeah, i was also using other resources like my own Anki vocab deck and Bunpro for grammar, so i got some of the same or additional vocab from elsewhere, which was just as valid a source.
One weakness of the WK vocab is that it’s missing hiragana-only words. Which is fine, as WK is mainly for learning kanji.
I think i started Bunpro (and reading Yotsuba) around level 20-30, though i really only got to increase the pace there around finishing WK, because it does get to be a huge workload. But it was definitely worth it 
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I guess I will have to start using lesson filter, I will have to take a look at it to not hinder its flow.
level 15 here still with level 13 words
Power to anyone that can complete this in a year. That’s a special kind of cross-section between dedication and available time.
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