I’m leaving for Japan in March and I want to see how much kanji I’ll know before I go. Also to clarify, I am studying the grammar and vocab independently and will be taking my N4 in December. I also have a tutor helping me now. Disregarding those though and looking only at WaniKani, how many levels can I complete in 5 months?
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About twenty-two levels. That’s at absolute maximum speed though, which will almost certainly require you to do reviews at 3am at some point. Something in the seventeen-to-eighteen range is probably a more reasonable target.
Enjoy Japan, though. Send us photos. 
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IIRC, max speed was like 6 days 20 hours a level or something weird. Going slightly slower lets user stay on a much more regular schedule. I think it ends up being like 7 days 12 hours or something along those lines. For a long time I went with an 8 day schedule which was really to keep my lesson at the same time of day.
Really, just read the second post in this thread to get an idea of what to expect and what (not) to do or think about with regards to leveling. Fast or slow, there’s great advice in here.
It should also be noted that level 15ish is 95% JLPT N4 coverage (sort of) according to wkstats. But with the exam in less than two months…
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Can confirm, though this is not an issue when you have small children awake every hour at night 
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Haha this is the first time I hear somebody say that having small children actually helps with studying Japanese 
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Oh but it is. Sometimes I think “wow if I had started before I had children, I would have had so much time!”, But it’s the other way around, now I don’t have time, so give me 15min and I’ll get much more done than I would have before kids in two hours 
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I’m not worried about being up at 3, I’m a night owl lol. I’ll be sure to send pictures though when I leave. I’ll be studying abroad for half a year at the beautiful college of Rikkyo University in Tokyo. I’m going to try and stay on track to get about 20 levels so that my kanji will be good enough that I can spend my time immersing in the language and learning to speak better rather than multitasking the speaking and reading part.
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Yeah I realize that WaniKani won’t get me the Kanji before the JLPT N4 but that’s why I’ve been studying for the last half year with my tutor so I should be okay in all fronts lol.
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Starting at level 25 I was going fast, but notice how I never got the max speed of 6 days 20 hours, I was always some hours off.
I’d at least recommend you don’t go too crazy hard, missing a few hours off of max speed so you can wake up a bit later in the mornings is worth it.
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If you have time it would be good to add reading to your study routine if you haven’t done this already. Crystal Hunters manga could be a good jump start when it comes to reading.
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Well if you want to do WaniKani in Japan then yeah about 22 levels. If you want to actually be in Japan, don’t try to fill up your time with study. Japan has plenty of practice outside and you can learn a ton just from doing.
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Thank you. I have been looking for good things to read before I leave for Japan so I can be quicker at it and not read at toddler speed. I’ll make sure to check this out!
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I won’t go crazy like here in America but I will probably do it on the train rides, in the mornings when I wake up, and when I go to bed. I should be able to keep at least a steady pace so that way when I attempt the N2 next December, I’ll have a solid head-start on Kanji.
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As Belthazar said, 17-18 is about the maximum. Don’t worry too much about not being ready because I’m around there now and kanji becomes more and more familiar by the day.
Awesome, thanks! I’m currently sitting at about 4 days and 12 hours for level one and I’ve almost completed level two and it’s day 4/5 so hopefully I can keep the pace up (it’s hard with school and studying for the JLPT though). I just want to be able to read so I can spend my time there focusing on immersion and speaking more casually/fluently instead of needing to learn Kanji as well.
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me too bro. snail pace buddies
The first 3 levels are fast levels, they take around 4-5 days to complete each, but the levels after that are impossible to complete in under 6d 20h (except for short levels later in the 40s I think)
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