Im interested in everyone’s approach. Im considering getting my apprentice items down to a hundred before I jump into the next level because it feels like i might be forgetting some things from the early levels.
Another question is when you do level up do you just go all out and try to do all the new lessons at once or piece meal. My approach is doing all the lessons as soon as they come up but would like to hear others approach.
Cheers from Komatsu!
-Nathan
Wouldn’t that mean you take longer in total, which actually makes it more likely you forget things from earlier levels?
I level up as soon as I can, and then I go all out on previous level vocab + current level radicals. On the next day I learn the kanjis. Then I relax a bit until I get the rest of the kanjis, and then I slowly start learning the vocab.
whats your average apprentice pile at?
I don’t often specifically look at it, but I think it’s usually between 75 and 150, and pretty much never more than 200.
Currently I’ll prioritize making progress on the level, then work on vocab. For example, I do the minimum number of reviews to get radicals and kanji in the queue. Only once all available kanji and radicals are at SRS 3 do I then roll vocab into the queue.
I don’t typically think about apprentice numbers, but I think it hovers around 100 on average )obviously it surges up in the middle of a level, but drops at the start of a new level.)
The SRS system means that you wouldn’t forget material, because it continues to follow the same review schedule. There will just be a slightly larger gap between current and old material, which shouldn’t make a difference for retention.
My routine has changed a few times during my WK journey! I found it’s most manageable to keep my apprentice to max 100 items at all times, but now that I’ve reached the fast levels, I’m pushing it up to 120-130 (like I used to do waaayyyyy back when) because I’ve got the motivation to finish this. It also means that I am doing a big chunk of lessons on level-up days again, which I didn’t do for about 30 levels.
You do burn things at some point though. If you go really slow, it takes longer until you start reading, so I think you might forget burned things? (But then again, I’m just a small level 9 guessing.)
i do vocab and radicals first, then do the kanji once everything is guru’d.
how fast i go with the lessons depends largely on how busy i am. can’t do more than 100 reviews during commute, but i’d prefer 50er stacks, so i keep it slow.
last year i was reviewing as soon as a new item appears. mainly with my phone.
it failed at lvl 22
now i am doing reviews at 6am and 6pm only at home, with my pc.
also started taking local japanese lessons.
My schedule is like this:
Morning: 20 lessons or (25-30 if there are radicals)
Afternoon: 1st review
Night: 2nd review
I use the reorder script, but make sure that if I’m falling back on vocab, I first get that out of my way. It’s an insanely useful script, which never allows me to see 0 lessons, meaning I have something to learn everyday!
I keep reviewing and reviewing, but I don’t feel like I’m getting anywhere
but your level 60. Theres no where else to get to other than burn everything.
I don’t have a really strict routine but I do about 70% of my lessons in the morning and the rest in the evening so I hit the first review about an hour before bed. I don’t do vocab lessons if already have over 260-270 reviews the next day. I always do radicals as soon as I unlock them along with kanji, but I don’t do more than 15 kanji at once.
The rule I adhere to most strictly is to never have any pending lessons when I level up. This ensures that I don’t neglect the vocab.
I’m at 0/0 all the time and the elusive 6 day, 20 hour level up still eludes me…
The right time to start reading is today 
I moved fairly quickly to doing a max of 25 lessons per day. I use the filter script (which allows you to select the number of radical, kanji, and vocab lessons to do in a given session) to: prioritize radicals to immediately, space out kanji over the first half of the level, and do some vocab every day as available. Using this approach (and correct timing of radical and last-batch-of-kanji reviews), I have reached a pattern of consistent 7-day levels where I always have at least one point each level where my lesson stack is empty. (So my speed isn’t suffering and I’m not leaving any vocab behind.)
I use this approach not because I worry about trying to learn too many lessons at once, but because it creates a pattern of reviews over time that’s much more even. My reviews per day still fluctuate, but not wildly (unlike if I were doing huge lesson stacks, which come back in huge review waves).
I do reviews until I get my apprentice items under 120.
Then do lessons until it’s at or over 120.
I don’t pay attention to how long it takes me to get from one level to the next.
Sometimes I don’t get my apprentice under 120 for quite a while.
Sometimes I end up adding 20 more items to my lessons.
I target 20 lessons per day (but sometimes have done up to 30) during the mid-level stretch. Using the filter script, I do 5 kanji and 15 vocab (if available).
On the first day of a new level I do all radicals regardless of how many, then 5 kanji / 15 vocab each day after. I’ll do my lessons between 9 and 10 AM so my first review is after lunch, right around 1 or 2 PM. Then the evening will be my second review, around 9 or 10 PM. So I do 3 review sessions a day usually
This is just the pace I like; prioritizing vocab over kanji has helped me see how a given kanji is used sooner, so I tend to retain it better. And I don’t feel like I’m taking forever with my 10-14 day levels, but others might find that either too fast or too slow. Lots of varying preferences when it comes to learning 