I’m level 4 at the moment, but closing in on level 5. The only problem is that I don’t feel like i’m doing this the best way possible - that’s why i’m looking for some tips on how you guys are tackling the WaniKani!
I Do my reviews every morning - every morning.
Throughout the day i’m checking WaniKani 1,2,3,4 … as many times as I can! Resulting in doing smaller batches of reviews all day long. I Feel like this isn’t the best approach.
In the evening I check my reviews again and do some lessons (if possible).
I’m curious on how other people do their lessons. For example, i can race through 10 lessons in 2 minutes (most of the time). The next review i definitely forgot them, but after one or more fails I get to know them …
Why do you feel that way? I think that way works quite well. At later levels when you have 100 to 200 reviews coming in every day, it feels a lot easier to do 5 batches of 20-40 items than to do them all in one single sitting.
I’m actually not sure about this, but I feel like i’m messing up the SRS. But maybe this is just a feeling… on the other hand, when doing my reviews throughout the day it’s possible that i’m not 100% focussed on WaniKani/Reviews.
I do my reviews at least twice a day, right after I wake up and right before I go to sleep. I might have more review sessions during the day if I’m bored and have the time.
I also do lessons after my reviews in the morning or at night, depending on my mood. 10-20 lessons at a time, except when it’s vocabulary, which I sometimes do 30 or more at a time (I tend to know the words already, I just never learned how to read them). This keeps my reviews at a lovely manageable number, so it’s been working so far.
I don’t write anything down, just read and really focus on the mnemonics. As for the time spent, it depends! I tend to only move on after I feel I’ve absorbed the information, but I still don’t spend an excessive amount of minutes per lesson. After the lessons, I look at the summary screen and do a quick review then and there. I find it really helps the new information stick!
If you want to minimize times checking the WK, do reviews every 4 hours at 9, 13, 17, 21.
Because if you fail Apprentice review at 9, you get another attempt at 13 which can then be levelled to Apprentice 3 at 21. Otoh, if you don’t fail review at 9, you can review it at 17 and then next review will be waiting you nicely at 9 AM with same amount of time lost as if you had failed it once.You can also do all your lessons at 9 AM, then level them up to Apprentice 3 at 13 and 21 sessions and then you get Apprentice 3 and 4 at 9 AM session.
See the pattern here? It all will bundle down to 9 AM where you are your freshest and you can get good nights sleep of 10 hours of more.
The reviews become available exactly when they are meant to become available, you don’t have to worry about messing up the SRS!
Hmmm interesting. In my opinion, focus is most helpful when doing the lessons. After that, I think it’s beneficial to train your brain to remember the meanings and reading quickly and accurately without needing to focus. On the topic of lessons, I remember it taking me about an hour to do 60 lessons. I’d spend 1-2 hours and get all my lessons done right after leveling up
I try to do a session first thing in the morning and sometime in the evening before I get sleepy. I do sometimes do small batches as they become available during the day but I don’t go out of my way to do reviews/lessons as soon as possible. I always follow WaniKani with KaniWani. I’m also in the process of memorizing the primary meaning of all the common use kanji through anki decks (not their readings) and I regularly expose myself to japanese language content. Like I’m very low level and I learned Onion from WaniKani, and look, they mention onions while cooking in Terrace House and I noticed it, isn’t that cool?! When WaniKani introduced the person counters I thought “that’s probably not something people use in normal day to day conversation” but look, they are using “one person”, “two people” and “three people” ALL THE TIME in Terrace House, sort of the same way we might say things like “you two” or “just me” or “the three of us”, and I can hear it! Isn’t that cool?! I want to be able to recognize all the 2,000+ kanji and their basic meanings so I can expose myself to them in a more natural, contextual form, bombarb my brain with exposure to their readings. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to memorize the kanji/vocab readings from WaniKani alone.
If you haven’t already, I HIGHLY recommend installing the Ultimate Timeline user script:
It will show you exactly when and how many reviews you have coming up so you can plan your day more easily. I generally do reviews as soon as I’ve accumulated more than 20. If I let it go until there are 50 or more it becomes a real drag and by the end of the session I’m way less accurate just from typing fatigue.
