Question When Answering During Reviews

[kriskreuz]

Hello to everyone here! Recently signed up for the BunPro trial to check it out and was intrigued by similarity to WaniKani but for grammar. Decided to purchase lifetime before the sale was over. Pulled the trigger on the transaction because I really want to take the N5 on December 2020.

So I had a question regarding answering. As I am very new to BunPro and also to grammar learning I find that I make a lot of mistakes because I am not sure what the system is asking for. Many times I enter an answer that makes it correct but is not the specific answer the system is asking. I have just been answering again and again until I get the right one. Am I hurting myself in the long run by doing this? Part of it initially was I did not know how to mark an answer wrong. I did keep answering up to now but I am thinking maybe this is not the right way to go about this. How have you all been tackling this particular facet of BunPro? Advice from you all would be much appreciated. I hope I am not “cheating” the system by going about this way? I want to stop this behavior in case it would be detrimental to knowledge.

Also, I have just been doing just 3 lessons whenever I can and is up now to about 9-15 reviews a day. I am using the Genki I path as I am going through the book and workbook. Should I wait for the grammar lessons as I go through Genki or should I just do lessons here as I can handle it and have the book reinforce BunPro? I am kinda lost on how to proceed so some suggestions or if you can share how you are tackling this would be appreciated very much.

-k

[Kai]

Whether a review counts as “right” or “wrong” depends on whether your answer field is green or red when you advance to the next review. Before that, you have an opportunity to review your answer, and even change it if you want to (just press ‘Backspace’ to start over).

Personally, I’ll mark my review wrong if my guess gives me a hint that I’m missing a particle or something, because I want to be able to remember all those details on my own (so, more practice with those reviews is good). Besides, these reviews are essentially super-targeted exposure to the language; a very efficient way to repeatedly see all the grammar you’ve learned. They aren’t particularly useful if you just ace them all, only exposing yourself to each grammar point 12 times spread out over the course of a whole year.

 

If you think your answer is valid, but you were marked wrong anyway, definitely send a report (it’s a button at the bottom of the page) to the devs! It’s possible that your answer will be counted correct in the future, or else will provide the user with a note that a different answer is being sought because what you attempted has a different nuance or something.

I’ve left tons of feedback for all of the N3-N1 reviews in this regard, so hopefully there’s little-to-none of this happening once you progress that far. I think I’d already “tested out of” most of the N5 and N4 grammar before the Report button was implemented, so it’s possible that there are more unaccounted-for answers there (I don’t actually know).

Also, here’s this: Bunpro FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

[kriskreuz]

Hi @Kai- 先輩,

Thank you for your detailed response.

Personally, I’ll mark my review wrong if my guess gives me a hint that I’m missing a particle or something, because I want to be able to remember all those details on my own (so, more practice with those reviews is good). Besides, these reviews are essentially super-targeted exposure to the language; a very efficient way to repeatedly see all the grammar you’ve learned. They aren’t particularly useful if you just ace them all, only exposing yourself to each grammar point 12 times spread out over the course of a whole year.

I agree with this and have started to do the same. My question though is what if it gives you a yellow/orange response when you are somewhat correct but did not supply exactly? I forgot to screenshot, I just finished reviews. Will take a screenshot next time. Anyway, would you count that as a correct response, assuming you supply the more correct form, or just mark it wrong?

If you think your answer is valid, but you were marked wrong anyway, definitely send a report (it’s a button at the bottom of the page) to the devs! It’s possible that your answer will be counted correct in the future, or else will provide the user with a note that a different answer is being sought because what you attempted has a different nuance or something.

Understood. I guess I failed to properly describe this as I am new to all of this. What I meant by that is the yellow/orange prompt I get after answering that I mentioned above.

I’ve left tons of feedback for all of the N3-N1 reviews in this regard, so hopefully there’s little-to-none of this happening once you progress that far. I think I’d already “tested out of” most of the N5 and N4 grammar before the Report button was implemented, so it’s possible that there are more unaccounted-for answers there (I don’t actually know).

This I thank you very much for/. you truly are a 先輩!

[Kai]

what if it gives you a yellow/orange response when you are somewhat correct but did not supply exactly?

For me, it depends on the nature of the error:

1. If I thought I was supposed to say X, and the warning simply says “we don’t want X,” then I give myself another chance to answer without marking the review wrong.

2. If I attempt to say X, but the warning tells me I’ve accidentally said Y (as in, my answer has an unintended nuance or meaning), or if I’ve made a grammatical error, then I count myself wrong because there’s something important to learn and reinforce there. I don’t want to make mistakes like that, so I need more practice with those reviews.

 

It’s trickier to review grammar this way than it is to drill simple kanji/vocab, so this is just the nature of the beast, so to speak. Hopefully, someday, it’ll be more streamlined (I think we’ll need more feedback from users!), but for the time being, it is what it is

[kriskreuz]

Apologies for having to bug you again. This is an example of an error I keep getting.

So after answering it again I forgot to add ん to です. What do you do in cases like this?
I personally would like to mark it wrong so I see it again. But would like your take on this. Thank you.

[Kai]

Well, since you can’t follow a verb with です (you’d need a noun or adjective there instead), your answer is actually grammatically incorrect. Even ignoring that though, I’d still count that review wrong, because you’ll want to make sure you know の. More practice there will be a good thing

 

The “Explanatory の” is very frequently encountered, has lots of various uses, and always brings an additional nuance that depends on how it’s used.

An “Explanatory の” all by itself can sound quite feminine, so you’ll likely see it followed by だ or です usually. It needs to be preceded by a な if it’s attaching to a noun or な-adjective, and the の itself frequently gets slurred to ん in speech. Anyway, here’s a good video that covers all of this:

Explanatory の / んだ / んだけど / んですが (IMPORTANT GRAMMAR)

 

PS: If there is no hint in the answer blank, or if you feel that the review prompt is too vague for any reason, you can use the “Report” button to bring attention to the issue (ideally with a suggested solution )

[kriskreuz]

Ah, I see. takes note of all that was said

I do appreciate your responses very much kind sir. I hope to somehow repay in the future the time and the care you have made in these responses.

[Zethin]

Yeah I really wish that particular grammar point, when marked “です”, would be considered incorrect. I’ve messed up on it so many times but it still gets counted as “correct” because I know what grammar point it was actually looking for with the hint. But like you said Kai, it’s grammatically incorrect there, not really a nuance thing.