How do I use reorder to maximize my time while not changing the quality of learning?

I just installed reorder, and am not completely sure what the best settings are for it. Would be glad to get some suggestions! (Apparently an average level up of 11 days 11 hours is slow by some standards)

Speed really depends on how fast YOU want to go. Everyone learns at different speeds. Generally I will take all the radicals as soon as I level up. I generally finish all my kanji in the next 2 days and most of my vocab before the second round of kanji appear from guru-ing the radicals. Then I do the vocab from those guru-ed kanji as soon as they appear.

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Pre-study.

Pre-Study Kanji before level up.
Pre-Study Vocab before the first batch of vocabs comes up.
Who cares about radicals?

For myself, I like a healthy mix, but not too much kanji at once. Iā€™ll usually do a couple of sessions of only last levelā€™s vocabā€¦ but interspersed with that a mixed bag session with 1-2 radicals and 1-2 kanji and the remaining 1-3 items as vocab (I have my lessons on the default batch of 5). So two separate sessions of 5 will equal 10 items for meā€¦ 5 old vocab, and some mixture (as stated above). But Iā€™m not trying to level quicklyā€¦ Iā€™m trying to do whatā€™s easier for me. Iā€™ve discovered Iā€™m pretty terrible at remembering kanji if I try to learn too many at any one time. Vocabulary is easier, because itā€™s building on the kanji I already know.

If you use the Reorder script to get all your radicals and kanji done right out of the gate so you can level up faster, just make sure to not leave your vocabulary behind. In the 2-3 days left before you level up, you can work on the remaining vocab (if youā€™re aiming for the quickest 7 day levels).

Iā€™m totally a ā€œTake it slowā€ person, thoughā€¦ so youā€™ll probably want more advice from someone on the Gotta Go Fast team.

Main reason I care is to guru them. After that, I agree completely. (I know I know, I could just override it.)

Iā€™m kinda team taking itā€¦ slowfast??? Iā€™m attempting 15 days per level. Before that, I was doing about 10 days per level ā€¦

As for me, radical names arenā€™t that hard to remember. Also, I usually remember Koichiā€™s naming and mnemonics. Usually not for Kanji names, though. Probably two reason, 1. Kanji reading distracts. 2. There are too many of them.

My ideal time frame is 10-14 days a level, but since Iā€™ve come back from my 6 month hiatus Iā€™m all ā€œwho cares, as long as Iā€™m doing something!ā€
I think the sweet spot was 12 days a levelā€¦ that was doable when I was consistently doing 20 new lessons a dayā€¦ but now when Iā€™m doing 10, 5, and sometimes 0? Not happening.
*sigh*

But any progress is good progress.

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Because I donā€™t want to retype:

[Edited to account for recent SRS interval changes]

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I do nearly exactly the same as @rfindley, except at the beginning of the level I usually do my kanjis within the first two days instead of the first three.

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Itā€™s true that ā€œyour paceā€ is the right pace, in the sense that you canā€™t force yourself to go faster if you arenā€™t retaining stuff or if you simply donā€™t have time for reviews. But in this case, he wants to know how the mechanics work, because you can easily unintentionally stay on one level for a long time if you donā€™t know how the leveling works. By using reorder strategically, you can maintain a comfortable pace while shaving some excess time that came from simply not optimizing your review order.

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I only recently started using the reorder script also. I tend to do all my lessons at once when I level up, and when Iā€™m short on time, I use the script to give me the radicals and kanji first. The downside of this is that I end up with a pretty big review pile in the days after this, so the reorder script can really help out sometimes. Itā€™s particularly useful for me at weekends, since I usually find that I have so many other things to get done at the weekend that using the reorder script to only give me my radical and kanji reviews means my level up time is unaffected. Then I can just catch up on vocab when I have more time during the week. :slight_smile:

You are the voicie of wisdom. Pre-study is the key, at least for me too. And who cares about radicals.

I did pre-study radicals with anki (it doesnā€™t have all the radical pictures tho) and did make really good mnemonics for all new kanji. Before i was mess but now i have 100 % rate with radicals and kanji. I will pre-study kanji too with anki now (luckily it should have all pics for those). I glance through new level stuff now and then too. For voc i let srs do itā€™s job, as it doesnā€™t affect lvl up speed.

Wanikani kanji page is good for studying too. I put row of kanji so that i can see kanji but meaning and spelling are below screen. Easy to speed check if you donā€™t remember some kanjis.

When I was in Team Gotta Go Fast, I did pre-study by creating my own worksheet for the upcoming level and it worked very well as I recall.

Iā€™d look at the mnemonics and rewrite them if I didnā€™t think they would work out.

Iā€™ve been swamped with essays all year, think Iā€™ll have completed about 21,000 words by the end. Iā€™ve been doing an average level up of 12 days without a reorder script.

My current strategy is to blast through every lesson 2 days after leveling up (pure laziness, do not copy) then it takes about 10 days to get stuff right. I got too hung up on muh levels so Iā€™d sometimes guru the kanji before Iā€™d properly learned the reading.

Do not guru kanji you havenā€™t learned.

If it takes you 15 days because some kanji just isnā€™t sticking, wait until you get it.

The vocab will reinforce the readings, and they prioritise the most common reading with more vocabulary to reinforce it.

Vocab is not only essential for conveying ideas, but itā€™s also essential in Wanikani for reinforcing the reading and providing examples for the meanings.

Hereā€™s my progress so far to give you an idea of what mineā€™s like.:

Bottom line, go at your own pace but donā€™t be lazy, and donā€™t think that by leveling up in 8 days instead of 12 youā€™re learning any better than someone who takes 15 days.

Good luck.

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You say not to use your method but actually youā€™re just using SRS for what itā€™s good at.

Blasting through lessons is fine as long as you accept that itā€™s going to take a few goes at getting some of them correct.

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Oh I should edit that, I meant do not copy the guruing unlearned kanji part :stuck_out_tongue:

Ah right. :slight_smile:

I really think this is really the key to OPā€™s question ā€“ most people realize you can level up faster by reordering to do radical and kanji lessons before vocab. But not everyone realizes that this actually allows you to go slower with the first batch of kanji and spread them out over a couple days.

Basically, reorder to do your radical lessons immediately on level-up (that should take you about 20 seconds), then take a deep breath. You can now take your time doing the kanji lessons, spreading them out over the next three days, without affecting level-up time.

Youā€™ll still have to do the second batch of kanji lessons right when they become available, though. Couldnā€™t agree more with @polv about pre-study. For everything, but especially for the second batch of each levelā€™s kanji.

There is a fantastic script for this by @rfindley

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