How do you properly process 50+ lessons?

Recently i reset my level back to 0 from a level 6 due to a 1 month hiatus, probably should’ve just reset a level or two but that’s ok.

Since i reset ive been crushing the levels faster than ever until i ran into the same problem that gave me an issue the last time around. I unlocked 120 lessons and it basically killed all my momentum, i tried to run through them as fast as possible and it really hurt me. My recall was bad which throws of my schedule and makes me not want to do my reviews which snowballs into me resting again.

My question is how do you properly and efficiently process a 60+ or just allot of lessons efficiently without having to study them to death? I don’t mind the radicals its the Kanji And Vocab that trip me up. Whats your lesson plan?

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I don’t know, how do YOU?

What works for me isn’t going to work for you. Just because you have 50+ lessons waiting for you doesn’t mean that you have to do them because they’re there. I only do a max of 20 lessons/day for both my time and sanity. Sometimes 10 even. If I didn’t have the life that I do, maybe I’d have time for more, but it is what it is. Twenty lessons is my sweet spot. :heart: SO if you already know that trying to take on too much is not a recipe for success, experiment. See how you do with 30-40 lessons. No one is looking over your shoulder to see how many lessons you do everyday because this is YOUR language journey!

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I will add that if you look through the forum, there are plenty of people who will say that it does not matter how much you keep messing up, you’ll remember eventually. BUT, if you’re trying to barrel through the lessons and it’s not working to the point of bringing you down mentally, listen only to yourself.

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Yep, I basically just ignore the unlocked lesson count and keep a steady pace of 15-20 lessons a day. For most people WK is a multi-year commitment, and if you try to rush through it you’ll quickly end up overwhelmed and burned out.

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I think some people are worrying too much about it. It’s not like you need to have 100% accuracy.

Most people won’t agree with me but all I care about is repetition. So I usually go through the lessons and I count on the reviews to actually learn the damn Kanji. That’s the whole point of SRS. Not really studying the Kanji but rather spamming it until you get it. Again, this is how I do it, I am not saying everyone should do it this way.

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I reached level 60 in 1 year by doing 20 lessons a day. No need to do them all right the moment you level up. Here’s how I did it:

I’d recommend reading chapters 4 and 5 of my Guide :slight_smile:

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Well, I will start by saying my daily goal isn’t 0 lessons/0 reviews. That to me is too much pressure no matter the level.

And I am the type who is encouraged by seeing that there is so much to learn. So I don’t totally relate to your experience here, as I just get excited at the prospect that I now know enough to learn this much more.

I visit WK 3-7 times a day, so I have time to space out my lessons and reviews in 5-20 increments.

I am a fan of the wrap-up button during reviews (i like to do 20-40 in a sitting and then take a break even if for just a few minutes).

There is also this script that can be used to limit the number of lessons you see per day so you don’t get overwhelmed. It might help you to know you’re being limited to a set number per day vs. seeing 120+ in your queue.

Since I do not have a goal to get to level 60 in a year, i’ve afforded myself the opportunity to lower the amount of lessons I do per day. Reviews take the longest for me and they will increase with the more lessons you complete.

If you get overwhelmed by reviews, then decrease the number of lessons you do per day.
If you like doing lots of reviews, increase your lessons.

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Exactly! Actually it’s very bad to have 100% accuracy. Studies show the sweet spot is getting 85% on tests. If you get more then it’s too easy and you’ll likely give up. If it’s lower then it’s too hard and you will likely give up.

Ya don’t

Reorder script + 20 items a day.

Do the radicals. Then do the kanji. Then the vocab. You can level up in about 10 days that way and your lessons and reviews will be very consistent by the time you hit about level 20.

Or just follow JPR’s’ guide I guess

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50? Haha mine’s more like 200… 400 lately because I was on holidays for a week but I’m catching back up to my sweet spot.

I normally do my new lessons up to finishing the new kanji. So that includes the new vocab of the kanji that I just guru’d (usually <20), new radicals (at my level around 6), and first batch of new kanji for the level (around 26). Then I do the vocab maybe next day, so that I have a bit of time to focus and learn the kanji first.

I just do however many my brain feels like it can handle in a day. I also right down the words in a notebook as I go along as it helps me process it and spend a little more time on the words and then I can review them later as well. Also when I go through my reviews, I rewrite all the ones I get wrong, which often times helps me correct it in my brain.

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I have my lesson batch size set to 7. For vocab, I usually do 14 at a time, but never more than 21. Depends on the difficulty of the items and the amount of words with different readings from what has been taught with kanji. Kanji lessons only 7 at a time with a maximum of 14 per day.

After level 14, it becomes much more efficient. You only get about 6 new radicals per level, leading to about 6 kanji. So if you manage to do all your lessons before you guru those last kanji, you only have to do a relatively small number of vocab before you reach the new radicals, and can do all the rest while they level up.

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I also do something quite similar to this. I’ll do all the new radicals ASAP when I start a new level, then do a mixture of new kanji and vocab, up to ~20 lessons/day until the radicals are at guru and the last kanji unlock. Then I do the last few kanji as soon as I can, and spread out any remaining vocab over the time it takes to guru them.

So far I’ve been able to get my lessons to zero before each level up, and my level-up time is around 8 days. Last time I checked, my reviews had leveled out around at about 190/day, which I’m able to do throughout the day in reasonably small batches.

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Yup, did the exact same thing and it took 8 days a level as well.

I guess if I had anything to add, it’s that radicals are really easy to remember I guess? Personally I didn’t count them in the 20 items since they weren’t very hard for me

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Just take your time and enjoy them, you don’t have to rush through them or do them all at once.

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Jesus christ… if you get mad and want to reset every time you start getting a bunch of answrs wrong, you should definitely consider the lifetime plan, otherwise you’ll make wanikani rich

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Jrod, my fellow netizen, I have been in your shoes. What is your learning goal?

Mine, on WaniKani, is to learn kanji with priority. So, I see having to work through vocabulary before being able to proceed with kanji as an impediment. I was going to ditch WaniKani for a hand-rolled method, but the Reorder Script saved WaniKani for me.

Do you want to work through all content with equal priority? Then as others have advised, I recommend you ignore the lesson count and simply recognize that you have a non-zero amount. Find a pace that works for you, and chip away at your backlog each day.

Do you prioritize scheduling instead of subject (radical, kanji, vocabulary) priority? Then if you want to hit your occipital lobe with everything WaniKani has to show within about one year, @jprspereira’s aforementioned guide will give you an idea of the kind of routine it takes to do so.

What I really want to emphasize for any language-learning method is developing a flow, a routine, that both meets your timeline expectations and does so without causing you to see learning as a chore, punishment, and obligation as your quotes suggest. The adversary here isn’t any number in any queue, it’s the dissonance between how we imagine it feels to have accomplished our goals and how it really feels to be in the middle of doing so. Whichever routine you settle on, it’s got to be sustainable. It’s got to be resilient to daily changes in emotion, too. Today, I’m ready to tackle Japanese, to read, etc. Tomorrow, though, who knows? Did you miss a day in your routine? No worries. Don’t binge to catch up because you don’t want to tell your brain that it’s okay to slack and then cram to make up for it. Just evaluate why you missed a day so you can hopefully adapt and then pick right back up where you left off.

What’s my routine? Radicals and kanji ASAP (via the Reorder Script), and then vocabulary all other times. My lesson queue is huge, but I am satisfied with my progress, reading what Japanese I can, and outputting sometimes, too. I found that setting my lesson batch size to 3 helped me stay motivated. It’s small, measurable progress, which is key to my own methodology, as I don’t like to go long periods of time without feedback regarding how I’m progressing.

Finally, there’s always the nuclear option. If you just can’t make WaniKani work for you, cut ties and blaze your own trail. Keep progress measurable, keep learning fun, and keep at it!

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Uhh…

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Once you get to about level 10, it will be really really difficult to do all the lessons at once without constantly studying them outside WK. I don’t think pretty much anyone above that level does them all at once (a few people might, but not the majority). What I do is use the reorder script and do my lessons like this:

  1. As soon as I level up, I do the radicals
  2. After that, I do the vocab. Many people like to do kanji second, but I find that doing the vocab next allows me to retain the previous level’s kanji much better. It usually takes a day to get through all the vocab. I don’t do it all at once though, I do a third of it in the morning, a third in the afternoon, and a third in the evening.
  3. Next, do the kanji.

You can of course flip 2 and 3 depending on your preferences. You say vocab is harder so you may want to do it last instead. But using this method, I’m able to level up in 7 days and not spend all day every day reviewing the material. If you use reorder, just make sure not to use it to avoid vocab, vocab is important for retention! And if you find that doing 7 day levels is too difficult, then spread your lessons out even more. This is a marathon, not a sprint. If you feel overwhelmed, go slower with the lessons.

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