Speed run to the end or not?

I’m nearly level 50 and I wanted to get advice on something.

From level 4, I’ve been going at a steady pace doing 15 lessons a day. My average level time is 10 days, 21 hours. At this rate, my subscription will run out just a little while after I finish level 60.

I have two options:
1. Start trying to go at max speed.

Pros: I would reach level 60 in only a month
There would be time for those higher level items to be burned
I would get to relax as my reviews slowly dwindle after reaching level 60.
There is a 2 week holiday coming up, so I would have time to do these reviews.

Cons: After that 2 week holiday is up, I have exams which would take up a lot of study time…
The month would be very tiring for me since I would have to do over 200-300 reviews per day, as well as lessons.

2. Stay at steady pace
Pros: I’ve been doing it for this whole time so it’s foolproof for me- no risk of burning out or reviews adding up.
I would still have time to reach level 60.
I would not have to endure all of the reviews and lessons.

Cons: It’s just… slow. And I would have to continue doing WaniKani for 3-4 months instead of just 1.
The higher level items would be half-learned since my subscription would run out before they are burned.

In other words: 1 month of extremely hard work (and the rest of the year to relax) or 3-4 months of steady work?

  • Speed run
  • Steady pace

0 voters

I’d keep the steady pace. You will learn the items better, so even if you get less time to do reviews they should still have a better chance at being remembered.

Worst come to worst, buy a month or two for more reviews =)

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Maybe you should also consider going at a medium speed. Say 30 lessons/day or something?
If that’s too overwhelming then you could try and pace down, and if it’s too slow you could try to speed up a little.
Also, I wouldn’t stress too much over the end of the subscription. You can always pay monthly for 2-3 months after that and it’s not that much money I guess.

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afaik 49-60 are all fast levels meaning they only have one unlock so you may be overestimating how long your current steady rate will take.

Imo, just up your lesson rate a bit to 25/day and you should clear all radical + kanji within the first two days which sets you up for 4 day-ish levels max speed. If you keep going at 25 per, any level with less than 100 vocab will only take you 6 days without reordering/filtering lessons.

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I’m also going to agree with everyone on keeping a steady pace. I’ll be, however, even more conservative and recommend something like 20 lessons a day. That’s barely more than what you are doing in absolute value, but that +33% per day does add up quickly, and should allow you to level up in 7~8 days, so just over 2 months until the end.
It’s also probably a good idea to get an extra month or two and get everything to guru.
Then, I’d recommend using a script to get a least of your worst leeches just before you want to end your time on WK and add those to a different SRS system (like Anki, kitsun or floflo), so that you can still work on those.

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At the risk of burnout. Or keep a sready pace and buy a couple months extra

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I’m also voting for steady pace. I’m not sure you’d actually learn as well, my personal feeling is that things stick much better in my memory if I don’t try to overdo it, so I’m spacing out lessons even within a day and only do 5/hour.

I know it’s very tempting to speed run it, but in the end it’s not the level that counts, it’s how much you learn.

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This is a really good idea, I think I will do that! Thank you

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I’m in a similar position, but I don’t have a steady pace I’m used to haha. At the moment I know I will not have a lot of time the coming two weeks, so I’ll just try not to level up before finishing all of my lessons. After that I plan on going as fast as I can, but I never want to level up and end up with lessons on three different levels.

It’s really tempting to race to the end…

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You should keep a steady pace because you should keep doing reviews even after level 60, shouldn’t you? I saw that thread were everyone was talking about their accuracy dips after level 60 and it was terrifying. I still have nightmares about it.

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All those dirty smelly leeches after level 60 and mastering-enlightening-guruing all the easy ones have got to be a real beayotch. Hadn’t thought of that…

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Hi @Kawaiian17. Not high level like the others but I was reading this the other day and got the quote below from there.

Just thought it might help you in your decision making. :wink: (in addition to voting in the poll of course).

original%20(1)
By the way, congratulations on making it to level 48 so far! Great job, way to go. I wish to reach that level too so I celebrate your success in the hope that I can get there in the near future!

All the best!
-inspectatoro :nerd_face:

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Two things:

  1. I wouldn’t recommend changing a pace that’s proven effective for you this far already
  2. Speedrun is one word :sunglasses:
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So funny, I had the same predicament a month ago…
Finishing WK in a month + moving overseas.

The week I was the most stressed with the moving I just couldn’t find time for WK, so that delayed me for a week…
Suscription ends tomorrow… I managed to get to level 58 though :man_shrugging: … which works fine by me… I’m gonna call it done (psst … I’m secretly eating cake :wink:).

By the way if you’re are setting the goal based on your suscription finishing (like I did) that’s just you saying "I’m fed up with this, can it just be over? " … level 60 it’s just what shows, the whole package includes a lot more (reviews, burn items, etc). So I would say, just be over with it! (unless you really feel that you still benefit yourself from the reviewing, burning and the rest of stuff :wink:)

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The main thing would be the fallout afterwards. Getting those 2-300 reviews. You may be able to balance it, until something happens that keeps you away from your reviews for 16 hours, then you’re toast.

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You’re right haha. I can’t be bothered changing it now

頑張って!! And that quote is very wise :thinking:

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Yeah, so I just hit level 56, and it’s like, on the one hand, I’m on the home stretch. But on the other hand, the unrelenting succession of 150+ item review sessions are starting to wear me down a fair bit…

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You and I have lifetime though, we don’t have the same perspective on the issue, lol.

To the OP; I say keep a steady pace overall, but generally push yourself to do what you feel is comfortable.If you can hit level 57 or so, you can simply learn the last batches of kanji and vocab on your own. Wanikani adds great amounts of gamification and, “feelings of pride and accomplishment,” that quote was a joke, but seriously, you can easily learn that batch on your own with a bit of will power.

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Wanikanis top levels have really limited use. You should just go steady so you have time to figure out what you’re going to do next

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