I just want to ask, what is your average level-up time when you did 10-20 lessons a day? I used to do all the lessons in one go and level up in 7-8 days but this is becoming hard now due to life. But still, I cannot so much afford to slack because I want to efficiently use my monthly subscription here.
Soooo I just need to know how long you level up? I especially want to know for those who don’t use the reorder script
I do 10 most days (I’ve done extra a few days and skipped a few days), so far my level time has been 13-15 days.
Usually 12-17 days or so. I try to do at least 5 every day, up to 15 if I’m feeling up to it, spaced throughout the day. I do sometimes use the reorder script, typically so I can better shuffle my lessons to not be just 5 radicals or something. But if I’m on mobile, I just do whatever it gives me. xD My level up speed has definitely gone down since I started doing this, but I’m comfortable with my overall pace right now. 
You can level up with the same speed even if you just do 20 lessons a day. All you have to do is use a reorder script to prioritize current level radicals and kanji and you’re set. It’s definitely doable to have 7-8 days per level if you do that.
I do 15-20 lessons a day - 15 for new kanji and 20 only if it’s straightforward vocabulary without crazy exceptional readings. No reorder script. Been leveling up at around the 9 day mark for the past few months.
I level up 7-9 days tops. I usually finish all the lessons in a day. Like every two hours I do lessons which are 20-30 lessons especially if I’ve just leveled up. I don’t think it’s efficient for everyone though but it works for me.
7-8 days. But without reorder script it would take at least 10 days because I need to spread out vocab lessons to remember. Doing kanji lessons ASAP to maintain near max speed. (heatmap script tells me i’m doing an avg of 22 lessons a day)
Lvl 7, take this with a grain of salt (I’m still new at this):
I do all lessons as soon as they show up.Sometimes more than 40 in the same day (I split them out evenly in my 3 reviews per day).
I have realized that this allows me to learn new thing faster (or fail them faster). Leaving lessons in the queue just slows things down, you will not remember all of them in the initial 1-2 checks either way, better just go through the SRS as fast as possible.
Average speed is 7-8 days per level. I do reviews 3 times per day (early morning, before lunch, late at night).
Depends on how well I remember the kanji. When I remember them well and the mnemonics just click in my mind it can take up to 8-10 days. (the fastest was 8 days). But, if I get some that really bug me and I have a hard time to memorize or I confuse them, it can take me up to 14 days, maxim. On average, 10 days. And i think that’s a nice, normal way for the brain, especially for mine. I don’t overwork it, avoid the burn out and I get it used with Japanese every day. It feels like I am doing some pleasant, nice thing like this and not a chore. I don’t use the reorder script btw.
Your level up time is going to depend on several factors as well as on your approach: the number of lessons / day, the number of radical and kanji in a level, accuracy during reviews of radicals and kanji, timing of reviews, whether you use any scripts.
I do 11 items a day - I am using the WaniKani Lesson Filter, but that is actually to spread out my radical and kanji lessons (I only do 3/day w 8 vocab), not to do them immediately they are available. I have a 96%+ accuracy rating. I finished level 12 (14 rads, 39 kanji) in 19 days.
8-10 days of 10-20 lessons per day without reorder script 
Amazing!
Yeah, I used to do all lessons in one go, but its becoming really hard to memorize all mnemonics. Sometimes, I recognize the kanji, like “Ahh, this one’s used in the compound kanji for that word” but individual kanji English meanings are becoming hard. I was feeling the burnout. All lessons arrived today and I only took 20 lessons and I realized how liberating that can be.
Thanks for the advice! But using reorder script really feels like cheating for me, so I don’t use it 
This probably depends on current kanji knowledge, but its harder to do them in higher levels, specially with more complicated kanji with lots of radicals and mnemonics to memorize. I used to do them until end of Painful, and I used to think that the faster the better. If not for real life hindering me, I would gladly do the lessons right now too 
Just to confirm 
with an actual example: It took me 368 days for lvl 60. I finished with an average of 23 lessons per day 
It’s not “cheating”, you can think of it as “tailoring your learning methods to suit your needs”. You’re just prioritizing the most important lessons, so you can maintain a steady pace. As long as you do all your lessons eventually, why would changing the order be cheating?
Oh btw, before I knew what scripts were, I used to refresh the lessons page until I got only radicals, so having something as convenient as a script is a life saver.
I do a little less (14 lessons a day 5 days a week) and my average level up is 14 days or so, so what people above is saying is true. I have had some issues with remembering and inconsistency and I can go about 1 month without a level change (oh my god, level 18) but at 14 lessons consistently I’ve been looking at leveling up between 10-14 days.
I wanted to add to what jneapan said. I think the confusion is that if you sort by level then a lot of people feel like you’re harming your retention. However, the ultimate reorder script can be set to just organize items by radicals - kanji - vocab. The items will be mixed level though, assuming you have things coming back at this point (at your level I’m sure you do!). One could also order by SRS level, but the community is positive that hurts your retention.
I like to use the script on days that I don’t have a lot of time, though recently I’ve been less concerned about leveling up.
To clarify, I wasn’t advocating using reorder on reviews, but for lessons, which is an important distinction. Doing the current level radicals first puts them in the SRS system, and you can work on other stuff while guru-ing them. The priority for lessons should be current level radicals > current level kanji > everything else for optimum leveling. I don’t advocate reordering reviews, since that can mess the retention & other stuff.
Really? I only recall people saying it’s actually a good idea when you have a large review pile.
Why would it be a bad idea otherwise?
Some time ago, up until iwas about 40ish level, I used to do all lessons, all about 60-100 of them per level in one day.
in hindsight, I am not sure it was good idea (for me at least), unless you very serious about Japanese to the point, that nothing else matter and even then you could use that time to learn grammar and dissecting sentenses, speaking and listening.
It was hard time and I suffered some consequences, by still confusing one or two kanji and words between each other.
I recovered more or less though with lots of pain.
But Apperently there are some beast like breadstick ninja and some others who did just fine and get 50 level(maximum at the time) with out my sort of problems,as far as I know, in about one year.
However, the same breadstick, from what i saw in his posting, still had to do a lot of reviewing each day. About 300 or so a day, I think.
So you have to, perhaps, choose whether you want to investing some time on a daily basis.
Reorder ultimate, third party wanikani app, can, I guess, mitigate many problems of this route.
Why the word “cheating” would even come up in a scenario of language learning has been beyond me at this point. I am starting to wonder if WaniKani is treated more like a game than a learning tool.
The reward should be to know your Kanji, not to boast that you did it the longer, harder way.
It’s still not a great idea even when you have a large review pile but if the alternative is to keep putting it off, then certainly use it. The problem with reordering reviews is the you can get rid of some of the random element, which is important so that your not answering according to some pattern your brain has magically came up with.