Level 5 is formidable

The other day I got 150 reviews in a day and I’m still in level 3. Yep, I was wow’d. The radicals lvl 1 (7 days after), vocab lvl 2 and radicals + some Kanji + some vocab lvl 3. I got some stuff wrong but it was everything from level 3.

Today I had 40 reviews to do. Bored as hell! XD

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Yea I think that happened to me sometime around that level. Generally I just do 20 lessons a day and try and have 5 kanji per 20 lesson session. I average about 13 days per level that way, and never feel too overwhelmed.

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If you think level 5 is bad, then level 12 must be insanity. It has 37 kanji and I had 270 reviews to finish. :cry:

EDIT: Just saw that level 5 has 42 kanji. Maybe I am just being lazy :cry:

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I’m addicted to Stardew Valley for the second time. I thought about changing the language to Japanese, but I’m not that brave. :grin:

How often do you do reviews? I have the opportunity to jump on them at almost every hour, so I have no issues with 150-170 apprentice items, but if you’re doing it 3, 2, or even 1 time a day, you’ll want to have the apprentice items number lower. My wife does WK once a day, so she keeps apprentice around 90. I know it doesn’t help you now, but you’ll catch up eventually.

Hang in there though, I was in your position not long ago, I even opened a thread about it (levelup regret). Pacing yourself corresponding to how often you do reviews is a must. Also, I love the wanikani ultimate timeline tool because it will show you how many reviews you’ll have each hour, so it helps to plan.

Otherwise, IMO stay away from reordering scripts because of interleaving (Koichi has a video about that). It’s harder when things are mixed together, but you learn it better. Also, it works for me allowing myself to study before the first review that I get correct (once you take a review and get something right, do not let yourself study anymore or the benefits of the SRS diminish), so feel free to give that a try and see if you still retain things.

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諦めないよ!頑張るよ!

WK be like: “Who’s slow now?”

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Do more lessons if available!

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My lessons always go down to zero the same day I unlock them :slight_smile:

I totally feel your pain. Let me offer some advice though.

  1. around level 5 I started pre-studying everything in Anki about 2-3 days before unlocking. Then I can breeze through the lessons and not be overwhelmed. (After unlocking I don’t keep it in Anki). I strongly recommend pre-study.
  2. I found every level is painful at first and then it gets better as the items become more familiar.
  3. Just keep pushing through the pain and challenge yourself. If it doesn’t feel hard, then it’s not effective. Also think of it like going to the gym–if you put in the work you WILL get results. And it’s not really that hard…just a lot of work.
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[quote=“bynars99, post:30, topic:18438, full:true”]

  1. around level 5 I started pre-studying everything in Anki about 2-3 days before unlocking. Then I can breeze through the lessons and not be overwhelmed. (After unlocking I don’t keep it in Anki). I strongly recommend pre-study.
    [/quote]Agreed. I was doing the same around level 5. Indeed, if I leave the ‘pre-study’ items in the deck, I found myself reviewing the same item in both WaniKani and Anki. Unless that item becomes a leech (i.e. something which you constantly get wrong), then it is a waste of time “double reviewing” it in Anki.
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I guess this is the first time WK makes we think about the strategy we’re gonna use to keep up with our studies. Personally, I read all the hints from people more experienced and try to see if they fit for me. Two thing until now have helped me:

  • Set a limit for the number of Apprentice items (I use 100 items);
  • Do 20 to 30 lessons at a time, and after a few hours repeat, so review don’t appear in threatening high numbers.

Let’s work hard!
:sweat_smile: :sweat_smile:

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I’d never considered pre-studying because levels 1-2 contained content that was super easy for me, but level 3 has thrown me some curveballs that have kept me from leveling up as quickly as I wanted to. Since vocabulary isn’t difficult for me, I’ll probably just pre-study the kanji (and radicals sigh).

Fellow Level 5 here. The way I figure it, you want to get a steady stream of them daily. I make pretty good use of the reorder script, but I always make sure I get through all of the lessons in time for the next level. Right now I’m doing about 30 lessons per day. I usually try to do all of the radicals immediately and then do whatever Kanji unlocked that day, if I’m feeling good with the radicals. If not, I wait till tomorrow. I generally only start working on new vocab on the second or third day of a new level and proceed at a pace of about 30 per day, a number I find pretty comfortable. The day I guru the radicals, I focus on the unlocked Kanji. Then the next day I work on vocab again, if I have more.

Most levels unlock about 150-200 new items and the quickest you can level up is every 7 days, so it really doesn’t make much sense to do more than 30ish per day. Moreover, that number will also keep new apprentice items low, in the 100-150 range, since you’ll be guru-ing around the third day.

This might all go out the window later, but I’ve been shocked at how well I can retain information going at this pace.

Edit: Because I love my spreadsheets, Wanikani Levels - Google Sheets

At least on the surface, it looks sustainable, at least in a numerical sense. Low accuracy might get apprentice items high due to leeches, but spreading it out like this should make it so you retain it better than trying to get 100 in one day. Would be interested in the perspective of higher level people.

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I loved Fantasy Life so much! :heart_eyes:

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I just hit level five today and feel your pain! Since it’s a holiday here, I did half late morning and the other half late afternoon. I just hope I don’t regret having 124 items under Apprentice, but I’ll review everything again tomorrow. I haven’t used the reorder script yet since I figure I need to learn the vocabulary anyway, might as well mix it in.

Until now it hasn’t been too difficult to remember the items, but there are so many vocab words with the kanji for “life” it’s become tough to keep straight. And a few of the mnemonics could be better (ex. かく for cock in 角)…but it’s still good overall.

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Level 5 had my favourite vocab so far: 金玉。

Nobody spoil it for the uninitiated.

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When the reviews start coming in

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Yep, level 5 is notorious for kicking people’s butts early on. It absolutely ruined me! がんばって!

I have 135 lessons at the moment :sob: