How I review characters without burning out
When I started, 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 lives at a level from 1 to 5. A correct answer moves it up, a mistake moves it down by one. 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 — "learned" |
New words: drip, don't flood
I introduce at most ten new words a day. It feels slow, but it keeps the daily review short enough that I actually do it. Missing a day is fine; missing a week is how the pile grows.
Three ways to answer
Early levels are multiple choice. In the middle I just grade myself honestly — knew it or didn't. At the top levels I have to type the meaning, and in reverse mode I have to write the character itself. That last one is humbling.
The lesson lists are on the vocabulary page.