Is there a guide for using Bunpro for a user who is already at an intermediate level? If not, could anyone give me some advice?

Bunpro
#1

I passed N3 in 2018. Since then I’ve studied really inconsistently, but I’ve been working in a Japanese company where I need to use Japanese every day. I don’t know what my current level is: I’m going to try N2 this December.

Anyway, I do really well with SRS systems. And I do really well when the content is prepared for me. I have ADHD and my lack of executive function makes sentence mining for something like Anki very unreliable (or I should say I can’t rely on myself to do it consistently). It works when I do it, but obviously doesn’t when I don’t.

I really like the idea of Bunpro, but I don’t know how to get started.

Should I just pick N2 and start there?

Start from N5 and work through it all just to be thorough?

If I add a lesson, and then mark “I Know This” (bringing the item up to 12/12), does that item eventually show up in my reviews? Or, using WaniKani vocabulary, is that “burned”?

Should I just take a day and go through the N5, N4, and N3 vocab lists, add items I know, and then click “I Know This”? And then from there work through the lessons for grammar points I don’t know?

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

7 Likes
#2

This is a difficult question to answer. Seeing as you are going to attempt the N2 in December my suggestion would be to indeed set your path to N2 and focus mainly on those grammar points. (If you don’t know yet, you can set your preferred path in settings > general, and then the area of the below screenshot)

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It wouldn’t be a bad idea though to set some time aside clicking through the grammar points in the N 5/4/3 pathways and simply marking those you know by heart as known. There might be some you encounter that you aren’t that familiar with, or that you misconjugate or something. Always worth checking out :wink:

Yes, it is the same as the item being “burned” on WK. With the exception that you won’t get any EXP for your level here on BunPro (1). But it will set the grammar item on 12/12 (so burned) and stamp it with the :bunprogold: logo on your grammar page, so you know the item is “known”.

Both the good and the bad side of BunPro is that it leaves you open to work on what you want when you want. I would personally advice you to simply set your JLPT study level to N2 and add 3 grammar points per day. This will allow you a structured way of working through, and you will have at least seen all N2 grammar in 70 days. You could do more, but then things might start to get overwhelming.

I can also recommend the “cram” function in the days leading up to the JLPT so you can get some extra training in.

Anyways, best of luck, and hope you will enjoy your time here on BunPro! If you have any questions, people here are very helpful (though the forum activity here is a lot lower than the WK forums, so it might take a bit longer to hear back :wink: )

Edit :

(1) You do get experience for using the “mark as known” function, as kindly pointed out by @Adarain .

8 Likes
#3

Welcome! I’d just add the grammar list for N3/2 is messy given the test split a while back and because there are no official lists. So many of the N3 points here I might see on another outside N2 list and vice versa. Even some of their N4 points I thought I saw on N3 lists.

You will get a lot of reviews doing this which can be time consuming I would suggest reading what ghost reviews are and which setting works for you. BP’s SRS is not like Anki or WK, you get 12 SRS levels of unique content per grammar point (not 8 levels of same card). A ghost review adds to the review count if you get a sentence wrong and requires (I believe) 4 levels of correctness to clear that particular previously ‘wronged’ sentence…these add significant more weight to a review pile but you have control on threshold (none/min/max). Also all the synonym overlap, especially by N2/1, you have make judgement call whether you want to practice that point further (wrong it with a ghost) or accept it. They system does pretty good on letting you know to try something different without getting it wrong though but there is a judgement on the user’s end given the nature of grammar and what you want to practice. In other words, since each sentence is new content with the potential of various grammar points that may work, it’s a unique challenge than say standard sentence cards which is far easier.

I feel the program is primarily designed for output (writing/speaking) with a loop for outside practice, the best part of the program IMO because you can practice output without human expert feedback loop and then apply it. Given your extensive experience in daily Japanese, hopefully the program is a great fit, best of luck!

4 Likes
#4

As you have seen, there are three obvious paths to choose from:

  1. Pick up new material that you obviously need to learn or strengthen in N2.
  2. Close gaps that you might have in N3 and maybe a tiny leftover in N4.
  3. Cleanup by marking things as “I know this” as appropriate in N5, N4 and N3.
    (The fourth option is to do all of N5, then all of N4, … but that’s obviously way too boring for most people. )

I would choose the way through this that allows you stay motivated and engaged. For that reason, I would start the levels backwards.

Start with N2. It sounds like that’s what you are excited to learn. Use that to get a feel for the system, learn some new things. Have fun. Feel that commitment deepen.

After a few weeks, when you have some extra time or just want to learn/practice some easier things, pick a few things from N3 that you always wanted to learn better. See how that feels. Then you can choose how much time to spend on N3 vs N2.

I wouldn’t recommend marking the appropriate N5-N3 items as “I know this” until you feel like this system is working well for your intended purposes. It both takes time to do it and it is a judgement call, so it’s better to have the experience of how the system works for you when making those decisions.

6 Likes
#5

You definitely get XP for marking things as known, I effectively started my bunpro journey on level 20 or so when I went through some of the very basic stuff on N5 and marked them all as known.

2 Likes
#6

Ah, is that so? Sorry, my mistake! I must be confusing it with another service then. I haven’t used the “mark as known” function here myself in a loooong time :stuck_out_tongue:
Thanks for fixing the misunderstanding!

#7

Given the time limit, I would say start from N2. If possible follow Bunpro’s order as it is kinda based on popularity. Ie Grammar points in the earlier lessons are more frequent compared to latter lessons.

Try to mix N3 and a little bit of N1, just because the JLPT changes all the time…
When bored or want a change, mix things up add a few points from the other levels too.

It is possible to go on each grammar point and add it manually for review:
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This way, its possible to slowly over time add for review the already known simpler grammar points.

Try to add new grammar points when your daily reviews get manageable. Eg add new grammar to study when daily reviews are bellow 40 or 60 per day.

Good luck!