Speeding up the process

If you’ve been doing the same radicals for three days and have been getting 100% on your reviews then you should have new lessons by now. Are they showing at Guru yet? On your dashboard, the radicals should have a little segmented bar underneath them which shows how close they are.

You can look at the the levelling maths for the first level as:

Unlock radicals = 0hrs
Apprentice 1 → 2 = 2hrs later
Apprentice 2 → 3 = 4hrs after that
Apprentice 3 → 4 = 8hrs after that
Apprentice 4 → Guru = 24hrs after that

After that point, you should have had the kanji lessons unlocked. Does your lesson button show any lessons available?

How the SRS system works for later levels

Given how the SRS (Spaced Repetition System) works, there is a maximum possible speed at which it’s possible to progress on WaniKani; 6 days 20hours per level.

That maximum speed is because you can only progress to the next level when you’ve gotten the majority of kanji for the current level to Guru. When you level up, you get radicals for that level and just over half of the kanji unlocked and you must get these the radicals to Guru before you unlock the rest for that level.

Unlock Kanji + radicals = 0hrs
Apprentice 1 → 2 = 4hrs later
Apprentice 2 → 3 = 8hrs after that
Apprentice 3 → 4 = 23hrs after that
Apprentice 4 → Guru = 47hrs after that

So the total levelling time for first batch = 3 days 10 hours
You then unlock the next batch and must spend 3 days 10 hours again on those

I wouldn’t be overly impatient, because the reviews will start to come in more frequently as you progress, because…

You’ll see items you have at Guru 1 after a week. Then again after two weeks. Then again after a month. Then again after four months. So the longer you progress, the more reviews you’ll start to see coming back from the earliest stuff you did. Once that happens, you’ll have reviews galore.

Also…

\textcolor{pink}{\huge \textsf{WELCOME! ^-^}}

welcome gif - crabigator

Take the time to check out the FAQ and GUIDE if you haven’t already.

There’s also a lot of good stuff on the forum to help you, like:

The Ultimate Guide for WK
The Ultimate Additional Japanese Resources List!
The New And Improved List Of API and Third Party Apps

I hope your Japanese learning journey goes well and that you enjoy your time with us on the forums.

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