Wanikani levelling up

I just checked on www.wkstats.com and saw that it usually takes about 20 days for me to go from one level to the other. I take 10 lessons a day and take reviews twice a day. I usually have a accuracy of 85-90% on reviews. I also set the lessons setting to ascending level then shuffled. Is this a good pace or should I try to faster. I see people saying they level up in 7 days or so. How do they do it.

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That 6 days almost 7 days is the absolute minimum amount of time to level up if you exchange your life and wake up at 2 am to do reviews.

The pace is what you set yourself, only you can motivate yourself. Personally my average all things considered is like 21 days.

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If youā€™re happy with the pace at which youā€™re doing lessons, then you should stick to that and not worry about how fast others are going. If you think you can remember more things per day, then try increasing the number! But ultimately the goal is to memorise all these items, so do whatever letā€™s you best accomplish that :blush:

I would make sure, however, that youā€™re hitting the 4-hour and 8-hour reviews at roughly the right time (not quite clear whether your two reviews per day includes the lessons). You donā€™t want to artificially extend those intervals too much if you can avoid it.

Essentially, people manage to go faster by doing more lessons per day. Many use the Reorder Script to ensure they get their radical lessons first, but even without that you can do it simply by doing a relatively large batch of lessons on the first day of a new level (such that you get through the vocab and reach the new radicals).

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Leveling depends on guruā€™ing all of the radicals for your current level + 90% of the current levelā€™s kanji, thus leveling quicker depends on how soon youā€™re doing the radical and kanji lessons to get them into your review queue and then getting those reviews correct 4 times in a row at the SRS intervals (4hr/8hr/23 hr/47hr) in order to guru them

The 7 days/level youā€™re seeing comes from doing the radical and kanji lessons as soon as theyā€™re available and then doing the corresponding reviews as soon as those are available. Since you unlock two batches of kanji lessons/level, going max speed would allow you to finish a level in 6d 20h (and for the ā€œfast levelsā€ where you only have one batch of radicals/kanji necessary for leveling up [levels 26, 46, 47, 49-60] you can level up in 3d 10h at max speed)

Hereā€™s an excellent explanation on how to develop an efficient WK routine ^^

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Donā€™t radical lessons always come first in a level anyways? They have so far for me.

Yes, but items from a previous level ā€˜trumpā€™ radicals from your current level. So the new vocabulary unlocked by Guruā€™ing your kanji (leading to your level-up) will appear before you get to the new radicals.

And as MissMisc explained, you need to start working on those radicals in order to level up.

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The early levels seem to have around 30-40 Kanjiā€¦ if I study 7 a day would have 42 done after 7 days. However if I go at WaniKaniā€™s pace a level would take me around 20 days like you are experiencing.

This is what I do (what works for me), do not assume it is good advice or will work for youā€¦ I use a reorder script and push radicals and Kanji first always. Any time New Kanji are offered to me (usually 20 at a time) I go though all 20 immediately even if i donā€™t understand them. I usually will look each one up quickly just to get though them. two hours later or whatever when it offers them to me againā€¦ I use the force override script to make sure i get though them all correctlyā€¦

I am sure someone will say this is a terrible ideaā€¦ but it works for meā€¦ it allows me to unlock all the kanji for the levelā€¦ than in my own timeā€¦ I really focus on 7-10 Kanji a dayā€¦ building my own little mnemonic stories to make sure I remember all of them. this allows me to maintain a level pace of around 8 days.

Once I unlock the next level I no longer abuse the override script on levels I have completed. If I didnā€™t completely learn something it will continue to haunt me. Currently this hasnā€™t been much of a problem. In the first 6 levels I only have 1-2 Kanji that I routinely struggle with.

Basically I am learning them on my terms and than allowing SRS to function once I am past that level.

Again this may be terrible advice, but it is working for me.

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I assume lots of people are using reorder script to start with the new kanji asap. When you guru a kanji, you get vocabulary that uses it, in the middle of the level for the first batch, and in the beginning of the next level for the second batch of kanji. I use the script to keep the vocabulary lessons separate from kanji/radicals lessons.

For example, I unlock a level and get new radicals, new kanji, and vocab for previous level kanji. I reorder the lessons to show me radicals/kanji on day 1. Then until I guru the radicals and get the second batch of kanji, I do vocabulary lessons. Then kanji again, then new vocab that unlocks after guruing the second batch of kanji. You level up when you guru kanji, and this is the way to start doing it immediately.

I donā€™t start learning new kanji until Iā€™ve finished vocabulary lessons from the previous level though, I only leave new unlocks for later. Thatā€™s how you can pace yourself and not level too slow or too fast for what works for you.

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I do the same thing of learning all new kanji at once (and lots of others do), but that override script on the second review might be dangerous. I found that second review is really important and shows me where I need to learn a kanji better or look up the mnemonics again.

Thereā€™s no shame in going at your own pace, no matter what itā€™s like. This isnā€™t a race or anything. :slight_smile: Challenging yourself is good sometimes but actually learning and retaining things are more important. In my opinion.

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Like bluetoothfairy suggested, the reorder script is great and letā€™s you learn/review Kanji first and then vocabulary. This way you could learn all the material required to level up quickly, an do batches of vocabulary lessons every day without burning out!

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Iā€™ve seen many people advise not overdoing it with lessons. In other words, to do what youā€™re doing and just take a few lessons at a time thus pacing yourself.

I have taken a different approach, and itā€™s worked for me so far. I have decided that there isnā€™t a strict limit on what I can learn in a day, or at least, that I can handle whatever WaniKani throws at me. So I do all my lessons as soon as theyā€™re available. As long as I really read the mnemonics, or make up my own if I donā€™t think the supplied ones will stick, I do pretty well, and usually remember all the radicals and kanji (or maybe miss one or two) after the first four-hour review. Then during the review 8 hours later, I usually remember everything. I might get a few vocab wrong, but there are more of those, and they donā€™t factor into levelling, so no worries.

Now I understand that the point isnā€™t to level up as fast as you can, but on the other hand, I can see myself studying here intensively for about two years. If I can get through 60 levels in two years, I will be as happy as a č². But Iā€™m pretty sure Iā€™d burn out if I tried to stick with WK at a slower pace for, say, five years. Also, I really hate the feeling of having lessons waiting in the queue. I like to power through them, though I get that that strategy isnā€™t for everyone.

And after all, thereā€™s no harm in doing more, even if you get more wrong on reviews. Making mistakes is how we solidify what weā€™ve already learned.

As far as strategies for levelling quicker, as long as you really memorize the radicals for that level so that you donā€™t make any mistakes when you review, you could theoretically unlock all the kanji for the lesson in 3.5 days (assuming no mistakes and that you do the reviews on schedule). Then itā€™s as long as it takes to guru 90% of the kanji for that level, which again will take a minimum 3.5 days.

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Itā€™s been a while since Iā€™ve done lessons, but if I recall correctly, I had to do around 20-25 lessons a day to level up every 7 days AND not fall behind on vocabulary lessons - I pretty much exactly followed @jprspereiraā€™s plan (linked by @MissMisc).

Keep in mind, as you progress, the amount of reviews increase - your daily reviews will eventually increase to 8 times the lessons you do - and thatā€™s assuming 100% accuracy on your reviews - itā€™ll increase if you have a lower accuracy.

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I never get 7 days, but I generally get between 8 and 10 days if I do the following:

  1. Complete all radical lessons as soon as they become available.
  2. Once all radicals are at guru level, complete all remaining kanji lessons.
  3. Complete all remaining reviews as soon as I wake up, and before I go to bed.
  4. Do reviews on my phone whenever I have short breaks in the day. On the bathroom, in between classes, etc.

Vocab lessons should be paced to your personal preference. And of course, youā€™ll need the reorder script to follow this strategy.

If you are doing your lessons in the order they come up, you will have some vocab items in front of your radicals/kanji for that level. The people who level up in one week use a script to pull radicals to the front so they can do all radicals the moment the level up, and the work on the kanji until theyā€™ve learned them all, then worry about the vocab in the middle. If you have good accurracy, you could do this too, it just leaves you with more lessons on specific days (radical and kanji days 1, 3)

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