Do the SRS drop more than once when answering wrong the same item multiple times during a review?
Every now and again I find myself answering incorrectly multiple times the very same item, earlier I think I managed to get the same item wrong about 5 times over, I was wondering if that will have a much bigger negative impact than compared to just getting wrong the first time or not.
If it does actually matter, I guess I’ll have to pay more attention when answering something I already got wrong once.
The SRS can drop more than once if you answer wrong additional times in the same session. It goes down after 1, 3, 5, etc. answers wrong. The exact equation is here:
It says it’s based of the number of incorrect answers, but it’s not made very clear what getting an incorrect answer means. It could be referring to any amount of wrong answers during the same session, or only one in each. It could even count a wrong answer for each kanji/vocabulary reading and meaning.
In the example, there are 8 steps. Each step is a separate review session. Only the current session is relevant, so previous sessions don’t matter at all. Every time you type something into the input box, hit enter, and see the box turn red counts as a wrong answer towards the total for that session. It doesn’t matter if it’s reading or meaning, they both count towards the wrong answer total for that session.
I’ll need to be more careful doing reviews in that case. Sometimes I’ll get an answer wrong and not check it immediately so I can try again later, because I thought until now it wouldn’t matter if I got it wrong again afterwards.
Interesting. I’ve never seen it drop multiple stages even when I put the wrong answer in multiple times. I guess maybe I just haven’t paid close attention in the rare cases where I put in the wrong answer three times in one session (which almost never happens).
Also interesting that it drops double stages when starting at guru or higher. I’d always thought that items just dropped exactly two stages when missed.
I am not sure how you handle your incorrect answers but I can tell you what I do, every.single.time. I get something wrong.
First wrong, I read the mnemonics again. I actually take the time to write the word out in romaji on a scrap pad sitting here at my desk. Move on.
Second wrong, repeat step 1 but attempt writing it in Japanese (stroke order, etc). I WRITE the mnemonic out. Click through the kanji that make up a vocab if that’s what I keep messing up. Read the mnemonics for each piece (of vocab; can’t really do that with kanji or radicals). Move on.
Third wrong, I cry a lot. I do step 1 and 2 again, then write out the mnemonics for each of the kanji in a vocab.
If I keep getting it wrong, I will eventually cheat to move on and add it to my list of kanji to self study.
This is pretty much what I do, including the crying.
I got myself a notebook, and light blue, pink, and purple pens, and whenever I get anything wrong I write it down. I write down the meaning, the reading, any included radicals, and the mnemonics for the meaning and the reading. (If it’s vocabulary and has readings I should already know, I don’t write any mnemonic for the reading.)
I do step 1 and 2 again, then write out the mnemonics for each of the kanji in a vocab.