How NOT to get to level 60. My experience with WaniKani

[Borx]

My condolences.

[Oshin]

@carlostdev

But thinking in terms of workload, it was a bad idea to combine constant mistakes with constant addition of new items to the review pile.

noted. I’ve read all your long post. Thanks for sharing. And congrats on reaching lvl 60.

@carlostdev

Will report back on that as I go forward and see the results.

楽しみ。

@carlostdev

If I could offer a few tips:

• Watch your accuracy, every wrong review today is extra work tomorrow.
• WaniKani is awesome because it is flexible. User scripts are your friends, learn to use them and find the ones that work for you.
• While the gamified system can be addictive, remember that the ultimate goal is to learn Kanji, not to reach level 60. Don’t be afraid to slow down or even go back a few levels along the way if you feel it’s necessary.
• The forums are also your friends, we’re here to help you.

[carlostdev]

@vlumi

Reaching level 41 again after 16 months – so far so good!

A very reasonable pace. And you’ll be getting the cake pretty soon! 頑張れ！

@Turok

I feel like I would use them as a way of cheating past my mistakes and I think not having the option of making mistakes correct forces me to pay more attention since every mistakes is definitive and matters.

I totally get it because this used to be my mindset at some point. But I realized getting extra work because of simple typos was even worse so I finally adopted the way of the scripts. Though I’ll confess that on a coupe occasions I did abuse the WK Override script to level up when I shouldn’t had. At the end is a matter of self-control and awareness of the consequences of misusing the scripts.
Regarding setup. Yes, it is an annoyance, which is one of the reasons I go really light on scripts. I have like 2 or 3 that I do really NEED, the others I can do without until I get to my main computer at home.

@jneapan

Except I got overwhelmed multiple times along the way and had long hiatuses after which I had to crawl back up through thousands of reviews.

Not using vacation mode resulted in me spending two weeks to get the pile back from 800-1500 ish to zero after a weekend out of town, so I totally get it. But keep going! As you burn more turtles you’ll have less work to do.
Thanks for the good wishes!

@krysta84

Now halfway through level 6, I feel I have found a suitable pace. I do 20 lessons per day max, so I can actually remember them. And I don’t let my apprentice items get above 200. I also use the self study script to review items that seem to become or already are, those dreadful leeches.

This is a very good approach! If you keep going like this you’ll suffer less I’d say

@Borx

My condolences.

Haha I missed you, good to know you’re still around

[brixxen]

Thank you for posting this! This noobie definitely appreciates the tips.

[Murphy]

Hey, right now I am at level 18 and my accuracy rate lately (since level 15 or so) has been at 84-87 percent or so. My question is: What should be considered a good accuracy rate for longterm success and avoiding a burnout eventually?

[9-Ball]

Am I correct in assuming that as long as I do the lesson, WK is going push me through levels, regardless of the size of my apprentice pile, and assuming the volume of the pile stays consistent, it’ll be waiting for me after level 60? I know this question is super basic, but I’m looking for a reality based answer, and not a retreatment of SRS theory.

[trevettm]

What are these user scripts? Where can I find more? Which ones do you find useful?

[vlumi]

You will only get to the next level when you have reached Guru on at least 90% of the kanji of a single level. But of course if you just level up fast, many of those may lapse back to Apprentice again, causing the review pile to swell.

[carlostdev]

@Murphy

What should be considered a good accuracy rate for longterm success and avoiding a burnout eventually?

I can’t give you an exact number, really. But essentially, if you gonna race for level 60 you should aim for perfection.
85-ish% seems a bit low to me, but as long as you keep your apprentice count around 150, the workload should stay manageable. Don’t do any lessons until you get the apprentice count to those numbers. This will, of course, slow you down. It all depends on your personal goals, at the end.

@Jzon

Am I correct in assuming that as long as I do the lesson, WK is going push me through levels, regardless of the size of my apprentice pile, and assuming the volume of the pile stays consistent, it’ll be waiting for me after level 60?

Yes, as long as you guru 90% the Kanji on a given level, WaniKani will let you proceed with the following level, no matter how large your apprentice count is. That is the only requirement. So it all comes to you on managing your workload.

@vlumi

But of course if you just level up fast, many of those may lapse back to Apprentice again, causing the review pile to swell.

I’d just add that going fast isn’t necessarily going to send tons of things back to apprentice, but making mistakes in reviews does.

@trevettm

What are these user scripts? Where can I find more? Which ones do you find useful?

You’ll want to check the compilation list. I’m still adding scripts to my workflow and will make a separate post explaining what works for me, maybe. WK Improve is a good start, in my opinion.

The New And Improved List Of API and Third Party Apps

This is a list of third-party script/app and is not created or managed by the WaniKani team. By using any of the script/apps listed here, you understand that it can stop working at any time or be discontinued indefinitely. This is a wiki post, please feel free to edit it and add to it! Requests Userscripts Here How to use userscripts Discord server for discussing userscripts Note that UserScripts may not work well in mobile browsers; but not entirely impossible. Other things like…

[Elbereth00]

Have you begun attempting/having finished Kaniwani? It’s such a terrific complement to Wanikani, but I’ve been kind of putting it off myself, as every time I try, I end up neglecting WK, as I’m just too lazy to go through with both at the same time.

[carlostdev]

Oh, yeah, KaniWani.

Didn’t hear about it until I was around level 10 or so. Back then, it was still on a very alpha state and all my vocab went into the review pile, 1,000 items or so. I spent a couple whole days doing reviews and gave up, never looked back. I’m planning to start KW along with WK this second round, hopuefully I can build the habit to do both

[vlumi]

I’m using KaniWani as a kind of back-burner myself, only reviewing Mastered items and higher, and on purpose keeping it at a slow pace: still 664 items in the Lessons there, and no rush to start with all of them anytime soon. My idea is that it would bring me back to vocabulary I might already have burned but forgotten on WK, sometime in the future…

[Kyrah]

So here is my two cents:

I don’t think 16 days per level is even remotely realistic unless you can afford to dedicate yourself to it.

Lesson limiter is pretty much a requirement for me because ~200 review per day is pretty much all I can realistically afford to do and still sleep, work and relax.

[carlostdev]

I just downloaded the Heatmap script and oh, boy. You can’t say I didn’t try LOL

[MrFujisawa]

I feel ya! I got to level 18, but left it so long that I pent most of my time failing reviews that i’d long since forgotten. I reset back to level one and feel far better for it, no rushing through this time!