Lately it’s been hard to focus on reviews. I found myself procrastinating and getting distracted when doing reviews. But I’ve gotta do what I’ve gotta do
To reignite my motivation I started timing my review sessions. Click “Start Session” and start a stopwatch immediately afterwards. After clearing the last item I stop the clock and calculate my time per 100 items.
So far my best time is about 15 minutes per 100 items, but the average is closer to 20 minutes. The accuracy (from the review summary screen) is 85-90%. So, I don’t think going as fast as possible harms my accuracy. I am able to cut my time by failing the items I can’t recall within a reasonable fast time. And previously my mind would start to wander. I might check my phone and get back to the item a few minutes later only find out that I still don’t know that answer
I found that doing reviews for time worked wonders for my motivation. When I start my review session I enter a state of flow and have incredible focus. And my reward is getting good time after the session is done.
Have you tried timing your review sessions? What are your average and best times per 100 items?
When I have a lot of reviews to do and it’s almost too intimidating to start, I like to set a timer for 15 minutes and tell myself that I only need to do reviews until my alarm goes off. I probably mange around 60-70 in that time. So that makes it about 25 mins/100.
That’s a good strategy for any difficult to start task. I also try to do something for 10 minutes in hopes of getting into it and stop worrying about the time. Otherwise, I am free to drop it after 10 minutes.
I’m a bit slower than most of you (and maybe newer to Japanese still?)… It’s hard for me to think about clearing 100 item review piles, because I’ve found that the chunks that feel quick and manageable are usually around 1~30 items.
If I get too many wrong items in a row, I’ll click “Wrap Up” and then see how I feel about continuing (which I do if I have time).
So, if they’re are 100+ items, usually that means it’ll take three review sessions (or so) with 25~40 items reviewed over a chunk of time? … with some mental breaks scattered in…
I usually do 60 items in 20 minutes. Not as fast as some of you, but I usually look at the info page if I was unsure of something. I also say the words out loud if I do my reviews at home.
I think usually my speed is items/2 minutes i.e. 50 items would be about 25 minutes. It varies a lot depending on how fresh the items are: Apprentice reviews are fast; burn reviews are slow.
Just timed 16 reviews at 5 mins. NO cheating and 86% accuracy so I paused to think and also read the info on wrong and multiple meaning items.
I’ve been resorting to rikaikun and yomichan extensions when I have something on the tip of the tongue but I try to fill in garbage now when I can’t remember because I realise the SRS system won’t work if I keep doing that.
Using a PC and a fast typer, yet 20 sec per answer… I’m sure I can be much faster but speed has quite the cost!
It takes me around a hour to do 100 reviews