Bunpro Review Tips?

Bunpro
#1

Hi everyone,

I’m fairly new to Bunpro and the community, although I’ve used other SRS-based systems before. ( I have enjoyed this space very much)

I wanted to ask if anyone else has struggled with Bunpro’s review style, or if I’m simply approaching it the wrong way.

I’ve been working through the N2 grammar chapters because my goal is to at least recognize grammar patterns and understand their general meaning before taking the JLPT N2 in less than a month.

Lately, though, I’ve found myself feeling a bit stuck during reviews. Often I understand the sentence itself, but when Bunpro asks for a specific grammar point, I feel like I’m guessing between several very similar patterns until I eventually find the correct answer. Even if I get an answer correct I still feel a little hesitant.

I think part of this might come from studying with the JLPT in mind. On the exam, I’d typically be choosing between a small number of options, whereas in Bunpro it can feel like I’m searching through dozens of grammar points that have very similar meanings or nuances. Thus I feel im not able to memorize it as easily or recall certain points.

For comparison, I’ve recently taken a short break from Bunpro and started working through the Shinkanzen Master N2 grammar book. So far, I’ve felt like the direct comparisons and explanations there have helped some of these distinctions click for me. Maybe also having them in a physical book infront of me helps?

That said, I don’t want to assume the problem is Bunpro. It’s entirely possible that I’m not using it as effectively as I could be.

For those of you who have gotten a lot out of Bunpro, how do you approach reviews or just studying on this platform in general?

What mindset do you use when multiple grammar points seem very similar?

I’d love to hear any advice on how to get more value out of Bunpro—not just for the JLPT, but for improving my Japanese overall.

I feel that I have ample opportunity to use what I am learning during work so I want to do my best.

Thanks! ><

1 Like
#2

You could put it on reading mode and self-judge whether you understood it instead. It’s less effort, but good enough for recognition and general understanding.

7 Likes
#3

I’m still new but I found reading mode to be much more enjoyable and allowed me to be more focused on the sentence and how the grammar works instead of playing a guess game with the hints. It got the point where I wasn’t even reading the sentence anymore and just matching the answer to the hints. That’s when I switched it to reading only mode.

4 Likes
#4

Reading mode is probably better for your understanding than cloze in N2

2 Likes
#5

This is pretty much how I feel. I appreciate it. I will give it a try then. Thank you so much.

1 Like
#6

My personal opinion is that our cloze mode is very effective but it can be harder from around N3/N2 due to synonyms. I would personally recommend reading mode as well or make sure you have nuance hints turned on by default if doing cloze reviews. They should help massively with disambiguating possible points - relying purely on the translations for the answer from N3 onwards can be tough.

One option as well is to learn everything via reading mode first and then reset and do them as cloze reviews if you feel that reading mode was too “shallow” on the first pass. This could be overkill for many people though.

Hopefully you find an option that works best for you. As you can see, people use Bunpro in all sorts of ways so there isn’t one “right” answer here, so it is safe (encouraged, even) to play around with things!

6 Likes
#7

I did all the reviews with reading first, have now passed the N2, am resetting and working through the Fill-In mode. Getting good at reading helps the Fill-In a lot.

1 Like
#8

Super nervous about the upcoming N2 exam. I have been using this in combi with N2 Shinkansen master grammar book. However, I feel I am either on the cusp of failing or barely passing. Ill def give reading mode a try after reading everyone`s response. Now i just worry its a little too late.

1 Like