Anyone high-level hit a low-point with WaniKani? I’m at one now!
I’ve been on for almost a year and am only at Level 12. I rocketed through the first 8 or so levels, but ever since then it has been a slog, and I think the last two levels have taken a total of about 6 months (!!!). I think I tend to try and rush through them in the morning, and end up with scores as low as 50-60%, so my Apprentice kanji don’t go down much, and I get stuck on a treadmill. That combined with the lure of vacation mode has put me in a bad position.
Here’s how I’m dealing with it. I figure if I write it down It’ll make it a more real commitment:
DO IT EVERY DAY - duh.
DO A MAXIMUM OF 50 REVIEWS A DAY - powering through 100+ reviews is like throwing time in the garbage. You can’t cram Kanji and expect them to stick. I know my focus is limited, so i’ll stick with what is doable.
DON’T RUSH 'EM - Gotta put an end to stupid mistakes and typos from trying to crush Kanji as quickly as possible. FOCUS!
Thanks all! Anyone else hit a wall and had to regroup? Let me hear your stories of perseverance and how you pushed through!
Have you even been doing 20 a day? Not trying to judge, don’t worry about that. What I mean by that is that the best way to learn how to gain a million dollars is learning how to gain 1 dollar first (then 10, then 50, 100…). Same with WK
You said you’re doing your reviews first thing in the morning… Here are some questions/tips to perhaps increase your accuracy:
Did you eat breakfast yet? If not, eat first. Having a full stomach will help you concentrate better. I’ve noticed a huge difference myself between doing reviews hungry and after having had a good meal/breakfast (depending on the time of day, in my case).
Are you still half-asleep? If so, give yourself some time to wake up, first! (in addition to eating!)
Did you make sure you were free for the 4-hours later and 8-hours later review when you did the lesson? Missing those first two reviews, especially the first one, can have a huge impact.
I fell off the wagon when I was on level 11. I wound up taking a 6-7 month break, and then came back to something like 950 reviews. I have a thread about that whole experience. Don’t stop. Don’t give up. Don’t be the me from a year ago.
With level 12 you can already try to read some “real content” on the web, using for example rikaichan. I can get some satisfaction from discovering that I actually know some previously unknown word, and it reinforces the learning.
Knowledge sticks better when you see stuff in other contexts, so I have some problems to remember “rare” verbs that seldom occur like ‘to be raised’ or ‘to be mixed’, I have to make an effort to find and learn them properly.
I had a few slumps during my time on WK, the longest of which lasted over a year O_O (no idea how that happened tbh, but I came back to 4k reviews). See below my level up stats:
My advice is don’t stress out too much. If you find you have too many reviews, then stop doing new lessons until you’re at a comfortable level of daily reviews. Keeping the number of apprentice items around 100 or lower can help a lot.
I don’t personally find that a lot of reviews are difficult as long as I spent a good amount of time on the lessons. That big of a break will hurt all the lessons you learned before, though, so your strategy is probably good for getting back on track.
Not trying to judge, don’t worry about that. What I mean by that is that the best way to learn how to gain a million dollars is learning how to gain 1 dollar first (then 10, then 50, 100…). Same with WK 