Sudden reduction in number of reviews

WaniKani
#1

I was having 50-60 reviews a day last week which suddenly dropped to 15-20 a day. I am compensating by catching up on lessons but I know that in the past it meant more apprentice backlog which lead by sudden increase in reviews. But the projected number of reviews remain low. Is this a new feature that comes with new content being added?

Edit:
Mistery is solved. It is “Tsurukame” app sync issue. The app was showing 11 reviews but there are 144 on the web page.
I reported a bug but was advised to keep an eye on “pink bar” that should be indicating that sync happens when you open the app.
I am now slowly dealing with the damage by speeding to close all accumulating reviews to catch up.

1 Like
#2

I suppose once you get things out of apprentice into guru then they return less often. Perhaps you had guru-ed a lot of items? I think with 50 reviews a day your apprentice must be quite low (I only have 100 apprentice and have 2 or 3 times that). Also, I think the projected number depends on how well you do that day - so it’s not ‘accurate’ until it’s updated when you’ve done your reviews. (if that makes any sense - it doesn’t know when those need to come back until it knows whether you’ve passed or failed them)

4 Likes
#3

Essentially, you’ve managed to get most of your reviews out of Apprentice and into Guru, so they’re coming back again less often - you’ve only got 83 items left at that tier.

8 Likes
#4

If you find your items to be extremely low, you can increase your Apprentice limit. Usually it’s around 100, but you can always temporarily increase is to like 125 and see if that works for you. I see your guru and master items are also quite low, which might be why you are receiving so little review items.

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#5

Take your time to rest, because in a few days a tsunami is about to come!

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#6

swings in the number of reviews like that follow from changes in the number of lessons you do daily. it can take a few weeks until the changes in the number of lessons is fully felt.

my recommendation would be to find a steady state which works for you, if 50-60 reviews per day is good for you, that’d be 5 or 6 lessons a day, and stick to that.

2 Likes
#7


With all seriousness. It could be that you didn’t do lessons for long time.

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#8

Hi! I’m new to WK, and on this topic, I was wondering if it really is wise to do from 5 to 10 lessons every day (not like I can right now, I’m really limited by the system). I feel like I wouldn’t really learn them well if I were to learn so many new kanji each day.

What is the general experience all you guys have had with lessons until now?

Edit: Actually, I’m going to guess there already are threads on this matter out there. Anybody know them?

2 Likes
#9

Totally depends on what you’re comfortable with. Keeping in mind that there are going to be lots of vocabulary lessons where you’re using (mostly) readings of kanji that you already learned, but applying them to vocabulary words, often I find that I do more lessons when it’s mostly vocabulary, and fewer lessons (usually 5-10) when it’s mostly new kanji. I did 30 lessons this morning because I just guru’d a bunch of kanji and had a whole bunch of related vocabulary to do - for 80+% of them, I could tell the reading using the readings I learned from the kanji lessons, so I really only needed to learn the meaning (which could be partly guessed based on the kanji in the word).

That said, there are times when doing 5 lessons was a stretch. It also changes as you get more used to learning kanji - you start to recognize pieces of the kanji in the new kanji, and it gets easier to remember them (you know, until you start getting more visually similar ones again).

You may be playing with your lesson pace a bit at the beginning, figuring out how much you can absorb at once. It’s pretty normal.

4 Likes
#10

one of the basic aspects of wanikani is keeping a steady flow of items coming in from new lessons, and ascending through the srs levels until you burn them. doing lessons is your gas pedal, and how fast you do lessons dictates how fast you will move through wanikani.

considering that there’s close to 9000 items in WK, doing 5 lessons per day will bring you to level 60 in just under 5 years. the speedrunners who do WK in a year are averaging almost 25 lessons a day.

only you can decide what speed is right for you. it will depend on how much time you have available, how you want to balance it with other ressources (grammar, listening, reading, speaking etc.,), and how well you are able to learn stuff in general. the speedrunners receive a lot of attention on the forum. but anybody who finishes WK has learned more japanese than the vast majority of non-native-speakers who try to learn japanese ever do.

2 Likes
#11

Thanks, both of you! Yeah, I don’t have much time, and I have no intention of speed running or whatever, I don’t see the point in it. I’m more interested in properly retaining what I learn, as I have no perfect memory unfortunately. I will follow your advice, try with 5 to 10 lessons a day for now, see how that goes. Thank you very much!!!

1 Like
#12

You all are right. I was too careful recently and did not feel like I am retaining enough in reviews to do a lesson.
But I don’t think this was the first time I was not doing lessons for long. I usually get stuck during kanji phase and catch up when kanji turn to vocab on every level. Still, it is the first time I am experiencing such a big decrease in reviews. All the lessons I did last week did not come back to me in reviews. This is strange.

#13

If you’re concerned that something’s wrong, you could maybe check when the system thinks the items you’ve learned recently should be up for review? It’s shown at the bottom of each individual item’s page

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#14

Mistery is solved. It is “Tsurukame” app bug. It show 11 reviews but there are 144 on the web page. I have no idea how I am going to catch up now.

3 Likes
#15

Sharing my study principles with you to give an idea of how some people manage their lessons:

  1. Do all radicals as soon as available.
  2. Do all Kanji lessons as soon as all Kanji are available (after the first few levels, Kanji are made available in two batches, I only start doing them when both batches are available to learn).
  3. Keep Apprentice items below 100 (or cross hundred but knowing that the next set of reviews will bring it below hundred).
  4. If there is room in the Apprentice items queue, fill it up with vocab items in such a way that you will have space for the next set of radicals or Kanji to be learned as soon as they are available).
  5. Occasionally take a day or two off from lessons to flush the Apprentice queue as much as possible. This helps you breathe for the long haul. (I did this over the last two days and bright Apprentice down to 9 before doing the 77 lessons I had available).

This can lead to doing 70 lessons in one day, for example (like today), but it ensures that your reviews don’t get too crazy because you cap Apprentice to 100.

#16

Also @Gakushuusha . Remember that your reviews are timed according to the level after apprentice as well which means they come in big batchs if you just do too much lessons at a time especially if they advance to Guru at the same time. In the beginning you don’t feel it much but later on it is a big impact as they pile up. I had days with more than 200 and it is not fun. I have been doing 10 to 15 lessons a day an the reviews number stay around 120.

This post has some good info on how wanikani works and a lot of tips from someone that already reached level 60.

1 Like
#17

Definitely agree. Do not do batches of 70 lessons at a time if you’re not okay with having a large number of reviews pop up at intervals. My schedule allows me to do my radicals and kanji reviews when they are due (usually fixed times of the day that I pick ahead of time), and to scatter my vocab reviews throughout the day as I see fit to fill dead time (like restroom breaks or walks…).

#18

Oof, sorry to hear that. I’d recommend stopping lessons and doing your reviews in batches over the next few days, I guess? Good luck!

Edit: Also, if Pep95’s post is accurate, you’re doing really well (ie better than me)! Keep at it

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#19

Thank you very much, @VegasVed and @GhostMechanic!! I really appreciate it. I’m slowly getting up to speed with WaniKani (level two!), and it really is accelerating, so I can see how it will become overwhelming if I where to go too fast. I’ll follow your advice :))

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#20

in the beginning (until level 5) I didnt care about how many lessons I did in one sitting, not many reviews after

but now on 18, I had to wait 3 days with 98 lessons and doing none of them because my apprentice was at 102. As soons as I reduced them to 72, I started the lessons again.

Now I am at 31 lessons and 92 apprentice.