Hello. I reached level 30, but starting at around level 25 the review flood got bad. I can usually clear my reviews regularly for a week, two tops, but I eventually wind up with 300+ reviews at some point.
On top of this, my kanji retention isn’t what it was for the first 20 levels. This is getting hard, y’all.
I’m a working adult with other responsibilities, plus I study Japanese in ways other than Wanikani. To try to balance things, I’ve slowed down my new Wanikani lessons.
I’m 100% in this because I love being able to read, but other than figuratively riding my breaks down the Wanikani pit, do y’all have any other suggestions?
I’m looking for information like ways to increase information retention, personal stories on how others did it (not helpful, but will give me some encouragement), etc.
I think one of my bigger regrets was using override a little two much for 5 levels…
I know I am in a way lower level, but have you tried [Userscript]: WaniKani Ultimate Timeline
I am working and studying full-time, so I use this to make shure I don’t get 400 reviews one day and 50 the next. This combined whit using 15 days in average each level makes the workflow manageable for me. (But as I said, I am still not near level 30)
Theres no magic pill to retain more without getting more exposure.
So the only other way is to reduce the workload by setting constraints, if it isnt helping you need to lower it more.
Im down to not starting a new level untill i have less than 100 apprentice items, for me thats a pretty sweet spot, but i would reduce it further if need be.
And as you probably already know, ditch the override script if you cant use it responsibly.
While kanji is in the apprentice stage I repeat the whole mnemonic in my head every time I see it, and I will also say the reading out loud either first if I remember it first or after I have finished the mnemonic in my head. It takes a little time but wkstats says my reading and meaning retention for kanji are over 95%, not sure how that compares to other people, and obviously this is completely anecdotal, but that’s what I’ve found helpful to do
I completely stopped doing lessons for a while last year and just focused on clearing my leeches, which really helped. When I started again, rather than trying to do a certain number of lessons each day, I use the timeline feature on Flaming Durtles to see what’s coming up, and how that fits in with the rest of my life. So if I’m going out with a friend in the evening, I won’t do any lessons that morning as I don’t want to be trying to review them on an 11pm train home. I’ve also increased the amount of reading I’m doing (NHK News Easy and following native speakers on Instagram), and I’ve started using HelloTalk so that I’m actively producing japanese outside of my weekly lessons.
I only have a fixed amount of time available for studying (basically my commute and my lunch hour) so doing these things have meant that I’m going a lot slower on WK and I’m no longer likely to hit my original level 60 target, but it does mean that I’m burning items more regularly rather than having the SRS be like a slightly endless game of snakes and ladders.
@Matto3 I’ll have to try that when I’m at home. Can’t do it 100% of the time, but about 75% of my wanikani is at home on regular days.
@fustian_garb Last year I had a 1 year account, and I think that’s what drove my “GOTTA PUSH ON” way of thinking last year. Wanted to get my 1 year’s worth. Now I have a lifetime account and can go at my own pace. HOWEVER, it feel so much less awesome. Feels good to hear from someone else who put on the breaks. Thanks.
I had set myself the goal of reaching level 40 by the end of 2018, which I did. However, it meant that I was really pushing myself to continue throughout the Autumn, even though I knew I was overdoing it.
I decided early on that I would take a break from lessons at level 40 to get my reviews under control, which I did from mid-December when I levelled up. I thought that I would probably start up again around the beginning of February, around a month later… To my surprise, I took an entire year out (and then some ).
I actually stopped doing reviews altogether for about three months during that time, and then spent over half a year just reviewing. It was great. I was always pretty good at taking breaks from lessons when I went on holiday and so on, but taking a week or two off just can’t compare to a really lengthly stretch of time, because you never get to properly tackle all those leeches swimming around in the Guru levels.
So I guess… if it’s getting too much, don’t be afraid of taking substantial breaks (not that I’m suggesting a year, heh!) as well as shorter ones. And really, don’t be afraid to slow down your lessons. You might lose the awesome feeling of levelling levelling levelling, but you gain the equally awesome feeling of being on top of everything and having good retention. Feeling in control is good
Really it comes down to managing your Apprentice count, and squeezing reviews in whenever you can. I think retention gets better when you’re doing more manageable sized chunks of reviews rather than grinding out hundreds in one sitting.
I work full time, but I can manage to get stuff in early in the morning before work, around lunch, and at night after work. I find that in doing so, the review counts are pretty quick and manageable.
Coming up with an Apprentice count target that works for your schedule would be a good starting point.
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