Lesson batch size - many small batches or a few large batches?

So I know people have posted about batch size before but they’re all archived now and I’m interested in how people break up their lessons.

I usually do around 20-30 lessons a day (radical, kanji or vocab batches - I try not to mix them too much). And up until recently I would do two or three 10 lesson batches as required. Which for radicals and vocab in general is pretty easy as there’s not much new info to learn and recall.

But recently I noticed I get bored very easily when doing 10 lesson batches of Kanji because there’s generally a lot more to take in. So yesterday I changed it up for the kanji lessons and turned it down to three items per lesson. Even though I’m still having to recall the same information I found it much more satisfying doing it this way as it was more gratifying and less boring with shorter intervals between lesson quizzes.

So how do you guys break up your lessons? Do you think it makes much difference? Am I just being odd? Let me know what you think :smile:

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I used to do everything in one sitting(then I died). Currently I do my lessons in batches of 10s but this is mainly because a. I work everyday and I have little time to do large batches of lesson and b. I’ve been traumastized by large review piles.
I think it depends on how much time you have, doing larger lessons when you have time would be ideal

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I tend to do three batches of 4 items. And I keep randomizing the batches until it has 1-2 kanji and 2-3 vocab at a time. I find it much more enjoyable than doing all the kanji together, since as you said that can be too much information.

One nice thing about my Lesson Filter script is that you can change the item type distribution and batch size on the fly, without going to your settings. For example, if you wanted to do a batch of 3 kanji and then a batch of 10 vocab, you could do all that from within the script.

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I never changed the default setting of 5 items a batch. I do radicals, then kanji, then vocab. Radicals cause muh max speed, or at least as close to it as possible. Then kanji cause, well, again max speed, but I also want to get the hardest part over with asap. I have time so I usually do all at once, unless it’s like late, in which case I try to finish radicals/kanji and leave vocab for tomorrow.

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Yeah I work long days which is why I can’t afford to lose motivation. I do do 20-30 lessons at a time but I set the lesson size to 3 to break it up a bit so it doesn’t feel as intense.

And I know what you mean about the review pile hell. I got sick a few weeks back and it took me a couple of weeks to get back on top afterwards with so many reviews.

I find 5-7 lessons is generally a good number. I agree that 10 feels too long, that dopamine rush of completing a batch of lessons, spending 3-5 minutes learning and then seeing you completed a section is great, where 10-15 minutes feels too elongated. Also I don’t really break up lessons that much otherwise, as due to my schedule, I always end up with a batch of 150 reviews anyway.

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Haha you put it perfectly!

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I do between 24-30 lessons a day. At least six at 06:00, at least six at 07:00, and at least 12 at 17:00.

So that’s 24, and thanks to @seanblue 's lesson filter, I can easily add 1-3 extra items per batch if that rounds out my numbers or items better, to make sure I hit 0/0 before I Guru my Radicals, and before I level up.

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After doing previous level vocab and new radicals, I do my lessons randomized in groups of 10 usually. That way the lesson quiz is a bit more interweaved, and I have to work a bit harder to recall readings especially. I find with smaller batches the quiz recall is too automatic.

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That’s an interesting way of looking at it. I hadn’t thought of it like that :thinking:

“I find with smaller batches the quiz recall is too automatic.” -Saida (the quote wonked out on me, using a phone atm)

I feel that with the overall srs to get to guru being at least 3 days and 12 hours, 2 minutes of extra lessons isn’t a big deal. And if it does affect your later recall, getting it wrong will send an item back to learn it better anyway.

Edit: reading that back over, I sound kinda sassy, not how I intended to sound. Obviously whatever works for you is best, this was just my opinion.

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I like doing 10 lesson batches because it’s like a 1 minute SRS stage ensuring you that you know the info before you move on. With 3 item batches I imagine it’s quite easy to remember everything right away, even if you would forget it after a minute.

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