Help! Thinking of resetting 😭

[neosim]

Hi all! I’ve took a long time off without knowing about the pause feature and havent had the motivation to go through the reviews. Probably more than that I feel as if I’ve forgotten a bunch of readings and vocab. Attaching a screenshot of my progress for more context.

My question is: should I restart from the beginning?

I want to be able to do a bit every day and slowly progress since I am very busy with work, and actually feel like I’m progressing rather than just catching up.

Any suggestions would be very appreciated

[VegasVed]

Uhmm, 333 days later?

Unpopular opinion:
Yes, you should reset all the way.

[rever4217]

That’s a lot of burned items for level 10, I’d probably restart if I were you. Only level 10 so you can catch up in 10 weeks if you go fast.

[Agatou]

Been in a very similar situation recently, so I know exactly how you feel. After days of deliberation I finally reset my account and started from scratch (I was also at around level 10).
Honestly, this was one of the best things I could have done and I’m really happy I did it.
Before that, going through my reviews was a nightmare, because I just didn’t remember anything, and now it’s fun again
According to my wkstats my restart started on the 3rd June and I’m going through the 4th level atm, so I don’t think it’ll take me that long to get back to level 10, so you shouldn’t worry about that.
Hope this helps! Let us know what you decided

[Pizh]

I don’t know… but <500 review is something you might expect to pile up if you not doing review. So I think don’t reset you will see much worse if you keep continuing.

Oh you have like almost 1000 items burned? Better reset your progress then. I think you already forgot a lot of burned items.

[prouleau]

In a similar situation I used the Reorder Ultimate 2 script to do my reviews in order of levels. I remembered the first levels just fine but I hit a wall at level seven. Therefore I reset to that level. This was a good decision.

You could try the reorder script to see if you remember the first levels fine and reset to the first level you don’t remember,

[Jojomnia]

How, do I put this?

Burned items are burned. The idea of WaniKani is that those are still sticking in your head. Even if you would continue slowly, that pile will stack up as you go and 333 days is nothing at a normal pace. As speaking of me, I needed around 2 years to get to lvl 60. (I have a lot of long time burned stuff too, I probably do not remember).

However if you only do WaniKani and no Japanese reading at all, not consuming any Japanese stuff(Does not matter how hard it is), I do think you can consider to reset.

I myself would however never think too serious about my level, burned stuff and such stuff. WaniKani is only for helping you to get used to Kanji and helping in reading real stuff. You will detect by yourself( this can be quit frustrating) how many vocab and Kanji you should have known while reading but have to look up again.

Do not push yourself too hard, or you will break.

[WeebPotato]

@Jojomnia

However if you only do WaniKani and no Japanese reading at all, not consuming any Japanese stuff(Does not matter how hard it is), I do think you can consider to reset.

Would second this.

WaniKani aside, it would be good to understand what the ultimate goal here is . If you want to learn Japanese, you should consider doing stuff outside of WaniKani, like reading, learning grammar, etc. That way the items you learn will be enforced and actually stay in your long-term memory for good. Once you burn an item in WaniKani you theoretically do remember it for longer, but it doesn’t mean it will stay that way without additional practice .

[oribaa]

I don’t think you should reset.

Just keep doing your reviews until you have ~100 apprentice items and then continue as usual. The most reviews I’ve done on one day is 792, I wouldn’t recommend it but it’s possible. I think that you’re in a really good spot to have some nice levels going forward since you have so many burned items already.
Go Go GO

[fallynleaf]

@neosim

I want to be able to do a bit every day and slowly progress since I am very busy with work, and actually feel like I’m progressing rather than just catching up.

If this is how you feel, I think you should reset. The second time around will go much easier for you, and you can start from the beginning with a fresh daily schedule that is tailored to your current work schedule. You’ll also get higher accuracy on all the items you had previously learned in the past, so those reviews shouldn’t cause you much trouble later.

You might not need to go all the way back to level one (unless you truly want a complete fresh start). I’d look through the earlier levels and see how much you remember. If you remember almost all of the kanji and vocab, you probably don’t have to reset the entire level, and can just focus on the items that are giving you trouble (also check your burned items—I’m pretty sure that you can unburn things individually? If there are a handful of things you don’t remember from the early levels that you’ve long burned, you can revive just those items, when you’re ready).

But if thinking about that process makes you immediately feel dispirited, then I would just reset back to level one. The first 10 levels isn’t really a lot of time in the grand scheme of things (especially if you’ve already learned them at some point), and it’s more important that you feel motivated and excited to keep going with your studies.

[Mburleigh]

I was in your shoes on level 10, but had only been off for 4 months. I reset to level 4 and am glad I didn’t reset all the way as I found you’ll remember more of them than you think. I sort of think resetting to 5 or 6 would have been better. If you take a look at the previous levels and study them a bit before the quizzes you’ll find it will come back and you’ll progress faster than just doing the entire level again. The first 3 levels are pretty slow as well and frustrating. I’m finding the second time around easier as well but have also been taking a grammar class. Good luck.

[neosim]

Thanks for the replies all. I’m going to wait until the end of the day to decide and see if anyone else can any suggestions, but an leaning towards a total reset.

[Pizh]

If I were you, I would skim through the burned item and see if I could recalled most of them. If I could I wouldn’t bother with resetting my progress.

[cypher1101]

@Pizh

If I were you, I would skim through the burned item and see if I could recalled most of them. If I could I wouldn’t bother with resetting my progress.

This is what I’d do. Resetting is a huge commitment that forfeits an awful lot of time. Just unburn anything that looks unfamiliar. You can always reset after if you still want to.

[anon97477514]

Hello! That’s no fun! I use to change to “vacation-mode” maybe for a week or 2. In this time I practice the last, maybe the 2 latest levels, as many times as possible. Then I returnere to reviews. Try that before you go to start. God luck. Morten.

[VegasVed]

[zaf]

I tried not resetting after long absence…thing is: I really didn’t remember a lot of kanji, and I mean a lot. My advice: try this out. Start your pile of reviews and see how much you really don’t know. If the amount makes you feel uncomfortable, reset a few levels back.
However, if you feel fine and are enjoying yourself: continue to do so.
60 is not a goal, reading kanji is.

[oribaa]

Please take a look at the reviews and your burned items , just look them through in WaniKani before resetting. If you recognize them resetting is a waste of time imho.

[jprspereira]

Something I wrote on my guide to Wanikani:

@jprspereira

It’s time to reset back:

It sucks having to go back a few levels, but as we say, sometimes it’s better to take 1 step back in order to take 2 forward. The main question this raises is to which level you should reset. I have a solution for you: Self-Study Quiz .

The trick is to use this script to review items, level by level. The moment you find a point where you know less than you’re comfortable with is the moment you figure out which level to reset to. If you think you’ll reset around 10 levels, start with the closest level to what you think you’re comfortable enough. Don’t start from the very 1st level

I do think you should reset, but to make yourself more confident about your decision, use the Self-Study Quiz I linked above and try reviewing items level by level. This will help you realize how much you actually know from each level.

I’d just reset and read my guide if you haven’t Reading chapters 4-7 will put you back to level 10 sooner than you’d think.

Good luck!

[MissDagger]

It is important to keep your goal in mind. What is the purpose that you are using WK for?

It is also important to take advice from the right person. With that I don’t mean that anyone is wrong here. I certainly don’t mean to slam anyone!

But we all have different living situations, and saying that level 1-10 is very quick, might be true if you have a lot of free time, but not as quick if you are very busy. So consider the perspective, and also perhaps consider how far along the WK/Japanese journey they are. Someone at level 60 probably have more experience in how to make WK work long term than a level 5, but again, if their living situation is that they have all the free time in the world then perhaps their methods won’t work for you anyway.

So what is my experience? I don’t have a lot of time for WK/Japanese, but I have it to spend if I want. So not in the same situation as you. What I do have though is an experience with multiple long breaks and handled mostly the same, even the last one but with an addition. So this is what I’ve done:

I’ve taken extended breaks several times without vacation mode:

Each time I just worked through the reviews, doing perhaps up to 100 reviews a day until I had reduced the pile to zero. However I did one reset recently, but let me explain why:
Level 31-33 were done very haphazardly for me. I was moving internationally, taking long breaks multiple times in the middle of those levels and in general knew that I hadn’t really learnt those kanji well at all, since I was always confusing them with other kanji.

So I reset 3 levels, not because of reviews, but because I knew I didn’t know the levels well. In fact, that reset is hiding that I had over 6 months of reviews piled up and even after reseting three levels I had just under 1000 reviews that I worked through over a couple of weeks in May.

I also reset because it would allow me to try for 30 levels in a year, which is quite a bit faster than I’ve done before. (I did my first 10 levels over 206ish days, and the next 20 over 377 days.) In fact I just counted that out. And as I said, that hides over 6 months on level 33 where I was before my reset.

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And even with all this, I have done it this way because I know how I learn best. I do things in ways that aren’t recommended by some but that I know works for me and my goals. Do you have previous experience from learning that you can use here to help you with the decision?

I don’t think any of us can tell what would be best for you. In the end only you will know, but one thing is for sure. You can’t undo a reset, which is important to remember, but also don’t let it stop you from doing it if you determine it is the best option for you.

Good luck with finding the path for you!