I don't really get ghost reviews!

Hi,

I have read a bit about ghost reviews - and maybe I am being stupid - but I’m still confused about them!

Are these reviews that are outside the normal SRS system? Normally an item is demoted or promoted in frequency based on correct or incorrect answers… simple enough. Are ghost reviews outside of this standard SRS system? If I turn them off do I then not get repeated grammar points?

I’ve been getting loads of them and it’s really been affecting my ability to learn. This is partly my own fault for not understanding the parameters of Bunpro and getting lots of questions incorrect. In most cases it is not the grammar point that has tripped me up but the preceding conjugation. For example, I know what ‘te kudasai’ means. What I didn’t learn is all the conjugations rules for verbs I hadn’t encountered in their Te form. Its actually helped me getting all the ghost reviews in a way, as I now know the rules for tte, te, nde, ide, ite ‘conjugation’ However, I’m almost scared to get an answer wrong now for fear that I’m going to be bombarded by constant repetition. Most of the grammar points I can now simply answer through rote - although luckily I think this has grown hand in hand with my understanding of the grammar involved rather than instead of it.

I’ve been averaging 90% correct for a while now so they have calmed down but i’m still confused by their implementation.

Thanks, Luke

4 Likes

Hey :grin:

Yes, there is another SRS for ghost reviews, it has its own intervals etc. If you turn off ghost reviews you will still be able to use normal SRS.

So for example:
Without ghost reviews:

  • you fail a sentence -> unless you provide a correct answer, you cannot progress to next sentence in the SRS.
    When you provide a correct answer (for the sentence you failed before), you move to the next sentence and of course next interval.

With ghost reviews:

  • you fail sentence -> unless you provide a correct answer, you cannot progress to next sentence in the SRS.
    Also, another SRS triggers FOR ONLY THAT PARTICULAR sentence.
    So when you succeed by providing the correct answer for the main SRS, and move to next interval and new sentence, the failed sentence will be still haunting you with its own intervals (until you complete the ghost SRS for this sentence).

I suggest setting ghost reviews on “minimal”. It won’t be as annoying as normal setting, and you will still get some profits.

13 Likes

Thanks for the breakdown, that makes it much clearer!

One thing… Does that mean normal SRS items that are answered incorrectly do not get demoted but remain at the same level in the SRS? Therefore if answered incorrectly, I would expect to see the same sentence again and not a reversion to the prior reiteration? If that is the case does that mean you can proceed through the SRS system with a correct answer followed by an incorrect answer followed by a correct answer and so forth? That wouldn’t normally happen in an SRS system.

Thanks, Luke

Hi there!

I found this topic when I was looking for ghost reviews tips in the community. Similarly to the topic starter I get no ghost reviews, even though they are turned on and I definitely make errors from time to time. I have only started a few days ago though, might this be the reason? Or how can I check if feeding to ghost review group goes fine?
Thank you a lot!

1 Like

Hey and welcome on community forums :grinning:

I have informed the person responsible, for the time being could you answer those two questions?

  • the first interval for ghost reviews is 4 hours, has enough time passed since the wrong answer?

  • another possibility is to miss the ghost review, have you noticed a ghost icon marking ghost reviews while answering?

Btw, that’s a cute avatar :heart_eyes:

3 Likes

Yes, definitely 4 hours passed since the last wrong answer.
I have not seen the ghost sign though, but to be honest I never paid attention. Will observe.

In addition, I mostly work with Bunpro with my smartphone, using the website and Chrome/Safari browser.
I do often switch b/w the devices so this is so far my preferable option.

I will also try to install the android app to see if the ghosts work there :relaxed:

P.S. and thank you. I really feel like that all the time I study Japanese :stuck_out_tongue:

1 Like

That is a lot of information! Thanks!

By the way, there is one method you can also try. It sometimes (miraculously) works in problems like this.
Turn off ghost reviews in settings -> save -> turn on -> save

1 Like

This makes a lot more sense, just one more question.

If you have ghost reviews on and miss a sentence, you said a new SRS is made just for this sentence that was missed. Is this SRS just like grammar point SRS where I will see it 10 times, with more time in between or do I only have to get it correct once?

It’d be nice if there was a tab where I could track my ghost reviews, and which grammar point the (ghost) sentence is for