Some days my brain just feels kind of foggy and I fail a large proportion of my cards for no other apparent reason. Anyone else get like this, and anything I can do about it?

Get enough sleep (and eat bananas)

Ritalin and coke usually helps too!

=^_^=

i get that every now and then, specially when i don't get enough sleep, maybe that's your problem too. a healthy ammount of sleep is very important for memory. in my case, a decent nap at some point during the day gets rid of the fogginess.

other things that could be messing up your memory could be: stress, drugs (incluiding alcohol, tobacco and coffee, i know some people whose memories get awful after either of those), non vivid-enough stories, too many cards added (the days after i add over 50 kanji, my retention rates take a plunge, then they get back up in a day or two).

try to think about what it is that you do differently on those days/the days prior to the fogginess.

I had one today. That's what happens when you stay up late and get up early.

Just do something else. It happens to me too, and you're making more work for yourself by failing cards you would have otherwise passed. Just take a break and do something else. You'll probably feel better by the next day.

I find if I happen to be really annoyed about something and it's eating at me for a while I lose around 25-30% retention as I just don't focus, I guess I have trouble letting things go tbh...

One thing I have seen to make a difference to my performance is hydration. Obviously don't drink so much it makes your brain explode, but it's maybe something to have a look at. Also, bananas ftw

Maybe making a diary detailing different variables over the course of a month would be an idea where you can see where your results fluctuate based on the changed conditions?

I am always cracked out on caffeine for my reviews(I drink a litter of green tea(like a coolaid pitcher full(literally, I brew it all together in the morning and drink it throughout the day) per day) and I smoke probably like 5 cigarettes a day( soon I'm quitting for good though)... and I don't have much problems with memory UNLESS I DON"T SLEEP ENOUGH.

So my guess is that might be the major reason, or I'm rather dissensitized to the effects caffeine and nicotine/tobacco have on memory, then again I don't really know what I'm talking about, just seems like a reasonable possibility from my general knowledge background on the subjects, "but I digress". ヽ(`Д´)ﾉﾊﾞｰﾔ

It's ok it happens all the time
Like others have said, do something else^^

Don't worry too much about it, what matters is that you will get it eventually. Forgive yourself and praise every kanji you pass.

I wasn't really planning on sharing this, but my memory was actually pretty terrible when I began RTK. I went from having difficulty doing even 30-50 kanji a day, to being able to kick through 50-100 kanji a day, at a rate of 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 minutes per kanji(not including the process of copying or writing stories); even while bothering myself with that thing out there called "life outside RTK." Why the sudden change? I don't know, but it probably has something to do with at least some of the following alterations I made to my life-style:

- Went from being a lazy S.O.B. to doing 20-45 minutes of cardio a day.

- Started chugging down cocoa with white or green tea all day long, as well as about twice the water I had originally.

- Went from eating whatever I could find to eating wild blueberries, strawberries, walnuts, oatmeal, eggs, spinach, carrots, tomatoes, etc, etc, etc.

- Supplements... SUPPLEMENTS FOR EVERYTHING! T_T

- Cut ALL refined sugar out of my diet. (yeah, I know)

- Ginkgo Bilbao. (doesn't work)

- 8 hours of sleep a day.

Anyway, you're obviously free to try any of the things listed above if you'd go to absolutely any extent to improve your memory. Your family will start calling you a freak if you're not living on your own, though. And you probably will be.

I forgot to mention that I used to have brain fog pretty much every third day, but that has since dissipated after I turned into a freak.

Thanks for the advice. Thinking about it, it probably is a sleep thing most of the time. And it usually is better to skip a day when I feel like that, because there are cards I would fail that day but pass the next.

This time, unfortunately, I had two foggy days consecutively, and I feel a little better today but not quite right yet. I think I'm getting a cold or something.

I think the heat isn't helping either. Curse global warming, I want the classic Scottish weather back >.>

I think it's mostly related to sleep. The brain processes information you learnt during the day during sleep and the rest lets you focus the next day.

Also you can time your RTK so you are on an up cycle energy wise. You can tell cause you just feel "chipper"

Exercise is good but I haven't found that it helps my concentration or memory. Although I have nothing to compare it to as far as RTK because I've been pretty constant on exercise for the last 2 years or so.

I think I've found a decent compromise for minimising the damage on these off-days: review boxes 2 and 3, or only box 2 depending on how bad I'm feeling. I'd be more likely to forget those cards anyway if I put them off, and the backlog is smaller (and easier) than if I skip a day or two entirely.

I've actually been travelling in Japan....Shizuoka, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, now Kyoto....I'm running around with my English guidebook...tired when I try to do reviews...I have 121 today and failing right and left...but it's better to take breaks and keep going...I like that idea about celebrating each passed kanji...

Take a break. Maybe you've been doing too much, and even if you haven't, it's normal to have tired days sometimes. Do not write off the day completely though, as then you might feel guilty and get into a vicious circle of laziness. But do have a nice nap, go for a walk or to the shops or do something fun, and you'll feel much better afterwards.