What to do when you get reviews wrong?

There are many ways to approach getting a wrong answer when reviewing a WK item by doing a “deep review” of the item. For example writing the item by hand, using the item to make a sentence (if appropriate), looking up the item in a dictionary, etc.

But I think a very important and often neglected step is to take the time and pay some respect to the Mighty Crabgator! Think about it. That is what he is here for, and his one and only task - to force you to review the items that you do not know. It is when we get an item wrong that we really have the opportunity to learn, and when we really do learn. Otherwise, we could just develop a sort of a feel-good Want Kani like application that just quizzes us on ありがとう all day. What we really want to learn are all of the items that are difficult for each of us personally, for whatever reason.

So stick with your reviews, use the above understanding of the process to prevent yourself from getting frustrated and 頑張ってください。

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When I get my reviews wrong I type hideous atrocities into the answer submit box and slap myself.
Then take a 30minute break and try again later.

Problem words I do manually write and sometimes it helps. But some words just never stick, usually things I have never used even in english so I tend to use the ignore answer button and if I get it correct next time round I allow it, as there’s better things to spend my time learning than getting stuck in a rut on 5-10 problem words, out of 2000.

I throw the computer out the window, fly back to America, buy a new computer, and fly back. It’s expensive, but I really don’t see any other option.

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Majority of my mistakes at the moment are me not paying attention so I cheat and hit the ignore button haha! But if there is a review I get wrong because I legitimately don’t know, I stop, take a break, and try later (and don’t use the ignore button).

I have a notebook that is 90% just me writing down WaniKani stuff. I write down three things: Lessons, Apprentice Items, and Errors. Good opportunity to practice handwriting, and doing the physical motion helps me learn the actual kanji too, I feel.

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I don’t really care because WaniKani is just a part. I work more on Anki.

I come to the forums and flirt shamelessly with all the cute puppies here.

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Depending on the item.

For radicals ignore, ignore, ignore. I hate them all and they slow down my learning too much if I allow them to be counted as wrong.

For items that are too alike to others (friend,companion,partner,assistant,follower) and use kanji that are alike I just ignore as long as my answer was close enough (ie, if I put partner but the approved answer was companion, I’ll allow it), since I can always understand the nuances of language for each word later when I see them in context.

For the rest, it depends. Sometimes the readings get on my nerves (just WHEN is 人 read ジン and WHEN is it ニン?) so I sometimes ignore if I reckon either the reading rule is too out there or if I’m just tired of it - once again, I can get the readings correct as I find the words in context and start using them more often.

If I reckon that I don’t know a word, or if I get it wrong a second time after ignoring I just let it be tho. No point cheating myself, considering I’m learning this because I want to.

I come to the forums and flirt shamelessly with all the cute puppies here.

Do dragonsaurs like I count as cute puppies? breathes fire

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Sure you’ll be exposed to the words later, but if you’ve convinced yourself, for example, that 名人 (めいじん) is pronounced めいにん, why would you even bother looking it up later on? And what do you have to lose by seeing it more times on WaniKani? The vocab words are words, not just glued together kanji. In the case of めいにん, it’s nothing, there isn’t a word with that pronunciation, so rather than trying to figure out what the reading of 人 is in any given instance, you want to remember the word.

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Kanji is kanji, vocab is vocab. Although I remember Kanji readings, I don’t usually read Kanji, but I usually go from vocab translation (or interpretation/concept) to reading. So, it can only be めいじん, because めいにん isn’t registered in my brain.

The real question is what to do when you get it accidentally right.

Usually if I don’t know I type え.

Imagine my surprise when I forgot the reading for 絵 during a recent review session… :astonished:

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WK Double Check can mark correct items as wrong, but I didn’t install that script.

There’s a user script for changing your answer (right to wrong, wrong to right) if you want to, called override.

If you want to improve your odds, try typing しょう or けい or something like that. :slight_smile:

Alternatively, if you want to guarantee a wrong answer without having to type something long, go with ん

If I get a review wrong I just accept it and wait for it to come up again sometime later. Let the crab do the work!

Haha, I have a similar strategy, except with あ.

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Apparently I sigh, loudly and dramatically. I never noticed until my friend told me she knew I was doing my reviews, and when I asked her why she told me I sigh really loudly every time I get an answer wrong.

Uh, other than that, I just move on.

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Just type a “spacebar” which is short than typing “nn”, and is guaranteed wrong.

Unless you have “Do you even Kana”.

Ha, it didn’t occur to me that one space would even be accepted, I just assumed it would be treated like nothing at all, since why would anything ever just have one space.

Pro-tip: didn’t even know there was an ignore button- 45 levels/1.5 years in…
That sounds like a good way to go. Whenever I get something wrong, I just check it out in the review and after I complete all my reviews. The system is designed to make you learn them eventually.