I’m looking for feedbacks on how you guys are using the Self Study Quizz userscript, and by that I don’t mean setting-wise but more how it fits in you’re Wanikani journey.
I think occasional reviews with this userscript would be beneficial for my overall retention rates.
I don’t want to spend too much time on it but on the contrary if I don’t come up with a somewhat clear plan, I will probably never put it in my schedule.
The No-brainer Approach :
I filter on specific Level and I review every item of the said level
The Enlightened Approach :
I filter specifically on Enlightened (and maybe level?) and I review only those. Since there is 4 month gap, is it really a good idea to try and reinforce those items ? I’m afraid of introducing a bias. What if I burn an item only because I reviewed it during a self study session not long ago. I feel like it could defeat Wanikani’s purpose.
A small tree with strong roots will outlive a big tree with weak ones Approach
I use the self study quizz with younger items to reinforce them early on and hope it will improve retention rate down the road. Downside: it’s probably more time consuming.
Ashes Approach
I only filter out the burned Items to keep the flame alive
Time Gap between each review session
Review
SRS Level
Waiting Time For Review
0
Lesson
-
1
Apprentice 1
4h
2
Apprentice 2
8h
3
Apprentice 3
~1d
4
Apprentice 4
~2d
5
Guru 1
~1w
6
Guru 2
~2w
7
Master
~1M
8
Enlightened
~4M
9
Burned
-
What is your take on this ? Do you have any recommendations in light of your personal experience ?
I don’t use any scripts myself (just a personal choice; nothing against scripts!), but I’ve come up with two non-script techniques to review burned items (see my comment at Best Way to review burnt items - #13 by wct for the full details).
The ‘bigger’ more ‘structured’ technique (the main focus of that linked comment) is what I’m calling:
The ‘simpler’, less-structured way is actually just the ‘manual unburning’ part of a Rolling Reset, but you pick and choose which items to unburn, rather than systematically going from lower levels to higher levels:
I’ve been using these techniques for quite a few months now (I started with just ‘revisiting old friends’ but then started doing a full ‘rolling reset’ once I realized that it was actually enjoyable), and I find it works very well, for myself anyways.
I haven’t used any scripts like Self-Study Quiz, so I cannot offer an opinion on them or how they would compare to a rolling reset / revisiting old friends. But, it’s easy to imagine how these two methods work, because it is basically exactly the same as ‘resetting’ a Burned item back to Apprentice 1, and it immediately goes into your review stack, and then you just review it in the normal WaniKani way until you re-burn it again. [And, you can always manually re-Burn it if you no longer want to study it, since WK remembers that you’ve already burned it once, so you can re-Burn it again whenever you want.]
Hope this is a helpful alternative way of thinking about the situation, even if you end up preferring the Self-Study Script in the end anyway. Cheers!
I really just use it in conjunction with the Item Inspector these days to go at my leeches in a more manageable way. Either the whole lot of them (the amount then depends on my Item Inspector settings on Leech threshold) or I quiz myself on one page at a time on leeches (again, this is through the Item Inspector and it’s settings will affect which are counted as leeches).
It think these 2 scripts were incredibly helpful in getting myself to lv 60. Just doing some spring leech cleaning a couple of times at the very least getting through Hell, Paradise and Reality is gonna keep those apprentice and guru items down to manageable numbers.
Doing nothing can quickly become overwhelming I feel, since you simply won’t have as easy learning some items as others. Which is which is a mystery really until they really have become a leech for you. So, yeah, that’s a good time to do something more directed at my learning problem with the item. Extra cramming is the first step and often the only needed, tbh.
I use SSQ in combination with Item Inspector to review the recently failed items. In use the Leech Training emulation to pepper up the items with visually similar items to increase the challenge. This use of SSQ cannot be duplicated with the wanikani recent mistake self training option.
Ah yeah, I just thought it might be worth saying since I just prefer letting SRS do its job. I feel like getting familiar with the item is enough, and it’s not worth too much reviewing it again and again when I can allocate that time towards immersion
The most time efficient way is defo to let the SRS do its thing. But you can’t simply learn all items this way, as some items are just begging for a different approach. That’s what the Self-Study Quizz gives you. Nothing attached, unlike WK where the SRS is keeping a certain time-schedule.
Using the Self-study scrips can certainly only help you retain all your knowledge better. There are no downsides.
There is really only one issue in conjecture with WK’s SRS as far as I can tell: don’t sue use it on items that are in Guru 2, Master, or Enlightened.
You just want those items to be tested by the SRS normally. Not interfere in the trial of your long-term memory. Just accept as fact that you simply don’t remember all of these - all the way up to burn - all the time. That’s just a computer.
WK is helping you in singling out which items are harder or not to remember for you as a person. Focus on those particular items, not everyone of them!
This is a valid point of view. Personally I have found that SRS works better when combined with extra studying. The only downside is the time required by extra studying. Bottom line: whether or not to do Self Study Quiz on top of Wanikani SRS is a matter of personal taste and time management.
For sure, I have a few items that could benefit from it, but it’s just something I view as optional, I’m not worried about a few items, especially when they are easily recognizable in context and can help me remember them in that way.
Which is why my view is in line with:
I have free time for sure, but I can’t possibly stay sane spending it all on learning Japanese, especially mindlessly doing flashcards for the rest of my life. So I definitely agree, I want to spend my time on other things.
Ultimately, point of mentioning that I don’t use it, and I admit I didn’t elaborate at all at first, apologies for that, was that I just don’t think it’s necessary and is called “Extra” for that reason exactly. I just don’t want anyone to think this is the only way to make up for shortcomings on items. A little variety in how you learn, if you need it, can be worth looking into.
From everything I’ve read, I might have the wrong idea about this script from the beginning !
@x90PT I totally agree, Immersion is the most important. I was just concerned because at my current level, I’m still a very slow reader. Statistically I don’t encounter a large amount of what I actually learn in Wanikani. But that will change once I progress !
@wct Sounds interesting, however I’ve always read that there was no way to burn or unburn an item, so I’m confused. I don’t see any setting in Wanikani allowing to meddle with this
@polv Yes in the initial phase of SRS, I usually use double check to give me a second chance.
@ekg@prouleau I see how it can be used for leeches, that’s interesting, I will keep that in mind in I feel like I get drained
@HaseebYousfani I see your point. I was just exploring possibilities here. Better now that later ! :p.
I think I will proceed as following : Obviously I will continue to immerse, meanwhile I will let SRS do its thing, keeping an eye out for leeches to eventually tackle them this way.
Ah, perhaps I was unclear. It only applies to items you have already burned once.
Once you burn an item the normal way (by correctly answering it at the Enlightened level, and it becomes Burned), then you gain the ability to Unburn the item. Actually, technically, it’s called ‘Resurrection’: There will be a Resurrect button at the bottom of the item’s information page. For example, if you’ve already burned https://www.wanikani.com/radicals/person, then at the bottom of that page there will be a Resurrect button, right beside the Retired Date.
Furthermore, if you have resurrected / unburned an item, that Resurrect button turns into a Burn button, allowing to ‘un-unburn’ the item – or to ‘re-burn’ the item – or ‘undo the resurrection’ – whichever makes more sense. You can basically un-burn and re-burn previously burned items as much as you want. Each time you Resurrect it, it will reset back to the Apprentice 1 SRS level. And each time you re-Burn it, it just goes back to being Burned again.
There are more details on how to ‘unburn’ several items in a row in that other comment I linked to in my previous comment above.
I use the self study quiz exclusively to quiz myself on all new lesson items after I do my daily lessons. I don’t personally find WK’s own lesson quiz to be sufficient, so I use the self study quiz to drill those items after learning them.
Either the whole lot of them (the amount then depends on my Item Inspector settings on Leech threshold) or I quiz myself on one page at a time on leeches (again, this is through the Item Inspector and it’s settings will affect which are counted as leeches).