How I review characters without burning out
At first I tried to memorise a whole lesson in one evening. A week later most of it was gone. What finally worked was boring and mechanical: spaced repetition.
Every word has a level from 1 to 5. A correct answer moves it up, a mistake moves it down one step. The level decides when I see the word again:
| Level | Next review |
|---|---|
| 1 | tomorrow |
| 2 | in 3 days |
| 3 | in a week |
| 4 | in two weeks |
| 5 | in a month |
New words: drip, don't flood
No more than ten new words a day. It feels slow, but it keeps the daily review short enough that I actually do it.
Three ways to answer
Early levels are multiple choice. In the middle I grade myself honestly — knew it or didn't. At the top levels I type the meaning, and in reverse mode I have to write the character itself. That last one is humbling.
method