Hey everyone
So I've just signed up and did the 5 trial sessions. I really liked how all the different aspects are taught (reading, listening, kanji) and the visuals, but have a few questions.

How do you study with iKnow? Should I only focus on the word? For example:
work ->　しごと or also the kanji? Isn't it a bit too much also focus on that?

Also a question on the dictation app: As I don't have any free sessions left, I couldn't try it. So my question is, does it only ask the words I've already learned or all from a step? So should I first complete the step (or even the whole deck) and then use the dictation?

One more question is, does the core 2k deck include the core 1k deck? When I've finished core 1k, then I alreay know half of the 2k, right? Does the site know my progress from the "lower" core deck or do the words show up as new ones?

And the last one: Do you recommend to do all the quizzes (spelling, audio and special characters)? It is a bit time consuming, but if it helps to keep the words it's worth the extra time, I think.

Ohh long post, but that's it for the moment
Thank you in advance for your help

[RawToast]

I use iknow alongside Anki as I have a 6/7 month subscription on iknow which I grabbed during the sales. In Anki I have been doing the Core 2k in a different order, so iknow for me is a mixture of learning and revision.

Quote:How do you study with iKnow? Should I only focus on the word? For example:
work ->　しごと or also the kanji? Isn't it a bit too much also focus on that?

I would cover 'work' as both: しごと and 仕事. With iknow this covers both recognition and production (english -> kana, english -> kanji, kanji -> kana, kanji -> english).

Quote:Also a question on the dictation app: As I don't have any free sessions left, I couldn't try it. So my question is, does it only ask the words I've already learned or all from a step? So should I first complete the step (or even the whole deck) and then use the dictation?

Dictation should only cover what you have learned. Iknow pushes this upon you after completing 10% of a step, but you can skip it if you like. Personally, I have been leaving dictation alone. I'll go through it when I want to improve my listening (e.g. for JLPT).

Quote:One more question is, does the core 2k deck include the core 1k deck? When I've finished core 1k, then I alreay know half of the 2k, right? Does the site know my progress from the "lower" core deck or do the words show up as new ones?

Core 2k is just an additional 1k words, so once you have done 1k you have completed half of 2k. The site will remember your progress from any other deck, which is really handy with custom decks. For example, you can use a 'time/date' custom deck if want to focus on them ahead of schedule; any progress made on the custom deck will be remembered when you come to those items in the main decks.

There are some large custom decks, (such as like the JLPT ones) which I keep in my focus just to watch my progress increase, I do not actually study the decks

Quote:And the last one: Do you recommend to do all the quizzes (spelling, audio and special characters)? It is a bit time consuming, but if it helps to keep the words it's worth the extra time, I think.

I removed the "Audio Quiz" as I did not like the way it expects you to be able to conjugate verbs, without teaching you anything about grammar. I find my Anki recognition is easier on words covered by iknow.

im a little curious how this is going to work out when you stop paying for it... part of the deal with srs is that you do it forever basically...(even though your reviews become progressively smaller if you stop adding) but if you stop paying can you still use the site for srs?

is it really better than anki which you can use free forever and also take with you offline whenever you want...? (which also has iknow core 2k and 6k and another 10k if you want...?)

[Zgarbas]

I find that iKnow is better for learning, whereas anki is good for reviews. Many people learn just fine with anki, of course, so it might be just me ^^. I switched to anki after finishing iknow core 6k and it worked out fine.

[RawToast]

After completing a block of 100 in iKnow I enable those words/sentences in iknow, I would assume many do something similar.

Zgarbas Wrote:I find that iKnow is better for learning, whereas anki is good for reviews. Many people learn just fine with anki, of course, so it might be just me ^^. I switched to anki after finishing iknow core 6k and it worked out fine.

I think this sums iKnow perfectly