When do I know it's time to go to the next level?

Bunpro
#1

I finished all of the n5-n3 bunpro points a while ago and have just been reviewing. I’m hesitant to go onto n2 level grammar because I’m still getting a bunch of n3 reviews wrong everyday. But I don’t know if this will buff out as I just continue and learn them coinciding with new n2 grammar. Someone told me n3 grammar was “synonym hell” where the points seem to consistently be similar, and you’re just cycling through them as you answer. That seems to be 70% of the reason I get them wrong. The other 30% is I just forgot the grammar point.

I’m wondering if I should make it a priority to finish all the n2 and then n1 grammar points sooner rather than later and then just grind out the reviews daily as they come. I don’t feel particularly overwhelmed, although I did have 200 reviews 3 or 4 days ago after not getting on for a bit, which I just cleared today. I have 62 reviews between now and tomorrow if that gives you any sense of how many I’m getting wrong, idk.

So is there a certain indicator of when I should move on? What is it? Or should I just move on asap?

#2

The answer to this question is so personal to you. It’s hard to give any sound advice without a ton of invasive questions about your goals, your time available to study, your other methods of study and immersion.

My rule of thumb answer would be if after you finish all of your srs for reviews and you think, wow that wasn’t so bad, and I have some free time for more flashcards. That’s the best time to push forward.

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#3

I don’t think there’s a strict rule, but it depends where you are with everything else. Bunpro condenses just the JLPT grammar points very tightly, so you can run ahead on grammar whilst leaving aspects like vocab knowledge behind.

As a rule of thumb if you feel that reading N3 texts on your cards is fairly straightforward then I think it’s worth going to N2. If speaking and writing are a core aim of language learning it’ll be useful to practice those and focus refining what you know, simmering that N3 knowledge.

N2 introduces a lot more vocab and a lot more kanji. Take your time to make sure they’re in a healthy place.

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#4

I will say it’s like a 50/50 chance if the n3 grammar review has a vocab word in it that I don’t know. But I’m not entirely sure that all of the vocab in the cards is actually n3 level grammar. Stuff that seems more niche/advanced like “global warming” has popped up and I’m not sure if that’s actually n3. I don’t really KNOW what n3 level words are, but just based off vibes it seems like they put above n3 level stuff in there. I could be totally wrong though.

Currently I’m doing quartet 1 alongside bunpro, wanikani (level 15), and anki for quartet’s vocab. And I’m contemplating doing the review cramming book of sou matome’s 500 question series of n4/n5 questions. I just finished chapter 1 of quartet with my tutor. So I’m hopefully not letting everything else fall too far behind.

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#5

N3 is already a solid foundation. At this point I’d stop studying grammar from a deck, and instead put more time into reading/listening. Once you run into unfamiliar grammar (you probably already have a good intuition when something in the sentence doesn’t quite add up), look it up on Bunpro/other textbooks, and add it to SRS if you wish.

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#6

You could take practice tests on Bunpro.
When you “pass” them and are happy with your score, then it could be time to move on :slight_smile:

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#7

Wanikani Level 30 roughly contains all the N3 kanji and will contain ~3,000 vocab. The recommended vocab count for the actual JLPT N3 is around 4,000. The JLPT N2 will cover up to 6,000 vocab.

Bunpro will (unfortunately) always throw unknown vocab at you - global warming and other subject specific topics will come up in N2 more and more. That said it is possible to learn the N2 and N1 grammar in Bunpro, but it might be hard to fully appreciate them in context without a stronger vocab base.

There’s no wrong order though to learn things - if you find Bunpro fun then for sure keep at it if you’re motivated for it.

#8

Also Quartet series is a pretty solid textbook series. I like the example texts and content covered and lines up well with the Bunpro grammar explanations.

#9

I’ve always been a fan of the 80% rule. If you feel like you understand 80% or more of what you’re currently studying, keep going! If not, stay up to date on reviews until you do. Find that line of how many lessons/reviews per day keeps you at about 80% and stick to it.

All that being said, if you’re feeling stretched for time just completing your current review load, even if you think you’ve got 80% of it, maybe hold off until it’s more manageable. That line will be very different for everyone. If you can, doing 3 review sessions (AM, PM, before bed) can help relieve the weight of big batches of reviews.

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#10

I think that sounds like a great plan. You don’t seem to be in a hurry, so a period of letting your learned materials soldify through practice is a good choice, thoug from the ones you mentioned, I personally would only keep quartet (and wanikani, but this introduces new stuff) as review cramming at this point doesn’t offer much benefit. You already did reviews without much context, changing this method will give bigger gains. I didn’t see any mention of immersion, maybe because you don’t consider it as formal learning time? If you don’t already do, adding native material into your routine would help a lot with settling and deepening your understanding of your current knowledge