I’ve been seeing posts where people level up in six days and want to know how that’s even possible. Currently it takes me around twelve days to level up (six days to guru the radicals and some of the kanji. Then after I unlock the rest of the kanji it takes another six days to guru that and level up). How is it possible that people only take six days to do all that. Does that mean they take three days to guru their kanji?! How is that even possible?
The minimum time for leveling up a normal item to guru is 3 days and 10 hours, so yeah, if you hit all the items the instant they appear (well, within an hour anyway), it takes less than 7 days (2 rounds of 3 days, 10 hours).
Keep in mind that vocab are not relevant to leveling up, so people who want to do the fastest route possible often prioritize radicals and kanji, and then take the vocab at a less urgent pace.
3 Likes
Do you know what routine i should have to guru them so fast
The minimum SRS schedule is not exactly designed for a normal person to do them immediately and maintain that for long stretches of time. You inevitably have to do things like set a timer for 3:00AM to do 4 radical reviews and whatnot. But that’s only if you actually care about the true fastest, bare minimum time.
I’ve done it before (ignore the fact that I’m currently level 3), and it’s not exactly fun, but hey… 7 days-ish is also not shabby.
3 Likes
It takes 4 + 8 + 24 + 48h to guru a radical, then it you need to guru some of the remaining kanji. Roughly a week is the estimate to go through a level.
Do the lesson in the morning, then do the reviews on time, 4h later, then after that 8h later. Then you’ll find that the next review will come in 24h and the one next to that in 48h.
1 Like
It says “1 day” and “2 days” in the FAQ page for SRS timings, but if it hasn’t changed since I was doing it, it should actually be 23 hours and 47 hours.
4 Likes
You also need Reorder script in order to get new radicals as soon as you leveled up [Userscript]: Reorder Ultimate 2 [newest]
Also probably want to read this thread for more in-depth explanation My Journey of 368 days (+ The Ultimate Guide for WK 📖 )
I’m always on 7 days per level and never encounter reviews during midnight. If you do your lesson on 7/8 AM and 5/6 PM and follow the 4 hours and 8 hours schedule, you will be fine.
6 Likes
Well, like I said, if you’re not concerned about the absolute fastest speed, then it’s more doable.
1 Like
That’s actually the correct way to level up fast without going into what Leebo is talking about. But there are people who want to optimize everything
The problem comes when you guru the radicals from the beginning of the level. Assuming you leveled up in the morning and do the radical lessons immediately, then did the reviews for them as soon as they come up, you will guru those radicals in the evening 3 days later, which will unlock kanji lessons. Those kanji lessons will be level-up critical because they’ll be the last kanji that need to be guru’d in order to level up.
So if you were someone who’s obsessed with the fastest possible level-up times, you’ll do those lessons immediately, which will make you have to do reviews again 4 hours later, and then 8 hours later. The 23 hour and 47 hour intervals will, over time, shift your review/lessons times slightly, which will cause you to do reviews at 3 a.m. in some levels.
That’s why your solution is better, because you set the times for the reviews and don’t shift them back to accommodate for the exact SRS intervals. In the end it won’t be the absolute fastest, but it’ll end up being close enough, and maintain your sanity while doing it.
3 Likes
Just wanting to point out again that I’m not recommending it or anything. The OP asked how to get under 7 days.
4 Likes
Of course 
. And I was explaining in more detail how that can be done.
As others have said, doing the radical lessons as soon as possible and then timing your reviews is what’s essential for quick level ups. I was doing 7 days per level and this was my schedule: Sunday 8AM level up and radical lessons. Radical reviews Sun at noon, Sun at 8PM, Mon at 7PM, Wed at 6PM. Some time between Sundays and Wednesdays is when I’d do the kanji lessons that are immediately unlocked. After guruing the radicals on Wednesday evening, you’d unlock the remaining kanji lessons which I would do at 6PM, so there would be another review at 10PM, then I’d review Thursday at 8AM, Friday at 8AM and Sunday at 8AM which would be my next level up. So as you can see with my schedule, it was definitely possible to do 7 day level ups without sacrificing any sleep or doing reviews at weird times. The maximum that is possible is 6 days and 20 hours per normal level
You’ve got a lifetime to learn, so don’t worry about how fast others are going. Learn at a speed that is good for you.
2 Likes
Why do you want to level up so quickly? I would honestly not recommend trying to go super fast unless you have a very specific reason (like needing to learn Japanese very quickly before a test deadline), and even with a reason, I would still consider it very carefully before attempting it. Going maximum or near-maximum speed is incredibly grueling, and it requires putting multiple hours of time each day purely into WaniKani and never missing a day of reviews.
The only time I think it’s really feasible is if you have several hours of spare time every single day that you can devote to studying Japanese, including spending hours outside of WK (unless you’re already very proficient in speaking the language and are just trying to learn how to read it). Basically, you don’t ever want WK to ever be the only kind of studying you’re doing. You need to supplement it with grammar study and immersion.
I’ve seen countless people on this forum burn out from trying to go too quickly, and I’ve also seen countless level 60 posts here where someone went maximum speed and then regretted it at the end because they ended up learning a bunch of kanji, but weren’t able to actually read Japanese because they didn’t learn any grammar or do any studying outside of WK.
A 12 day level up speed is fine. If you have extra time for studying, you’d probably be better off spending that time studying grammar and additional vocab and immersing yourself in Japanese instead.
That said, I do think it’s worthwhile to pay attention to the SRS review intervals, and to read the ultimate guide to WK linked above. No matter what speed you’re going, the better you understand how WK works, the easier it is to optimize it so that it takes less strain and effort, which reduces the risk of burning out.
1 Like
12 days is totally fine, don’t feel like you have to rush, you probably will burn yourself out.
That being said, it just means you’re not doing your reviews on the time they’re available or you’re getting them wrong. Or both. I can comfortably do about 8-10 days per level but I don’t always do it, just adjust yourself according to your life, you will not be fluent in Japanese just because you finished WaniKani, there really is no reason to rush, though I do understand the feeling.
1 Like
I am on the 7-day-per-level schedule and it does work out pretty nicely for having a consistent schedule. However, going on a 7-day pace and doing all reviews and lessons as they come up will lead to 2 days per week being significantly more intense than the others, due to how the review queue works past Guru.
If you have the time and the determination you can coast along pretty well with it as it will begin to become rhythmic…until you hit level 43. 43 is the first level where enough kanji unlock out of the gate to level up without having unlocked all kanji by first completing the radicals. Based on what I can tell looking forward, 45 and 48 (but not 46 and 47) will take a week and then everything else beyond that will only take 3 days 10 hours. This part probably serves as a big roadblock for level rushing if you aren’t just disregarding the vocabulary.
For your early levels, however, I recommend taking it slow for a few levels as you adjust to the system. Rushing too early can lead to a mess if you accumulate too many leeches and may result in you having to set your level down. It’s more important to make steady and solid progress than to rush as fast as possible.
2 Likes
Okay, so I’ve been here for a year and still haven’t figured out why exactly you’re at 3, specifically. I figured there was some sort of inside joke or something, so I didn’t want to bring it up, but because you said something… I feel like now is my only chance to ask. 
I’d be level 4, but I don’t do reviews.
4 Likes
This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.