First of all could you give a little more info on exactly what you have been studying for 3 months.

By 3,000 do you mean you finished RTK 1 and/or 2 and/or 3 and you just know how to recognize them or you also know the readings for most of them. ( As you would after say core 2k/6k for example)

Personally I think sentence mining is something that people should start latter in their learning. Let me use myself as an example.

I am currently going through Core 2k at a rate of 25 new kanji per day. I know it sounds like a lot but I basically do nothing else but review all day, I over study like crazy because I really want them to stick permanently. At this pace anyone should be able to finish core 2k in like 90-ish days maybe sooner if your schedule and studying habits permit it. II know it sounds like a lot and a lot of other people take the slow and steady approach and that's fine if you can stick with it consistently but I could not and this Blitz type of study schedule works best for me.

So an over view of my study plan goes like this.

1- Finish all the core 2k/6k with 100% retention rate cause otherwise what's the point.

2- Go through "All About particles" and "How to tell the difference between particles". Both are written by the same author and both do a fantastic job at giving you a basic grasp on particles. (Plus both books together are pretty cheap and you'll use them all the time for reference) Particles tie the words in sentences together and they are VITAL to a better overall understanding.

3-ONLY after fully grasping the core vocab and having a great handle on particles will I start learning grammar. As with most peoples recommendations on this forum I will start with the Genki 1 & 2 textbooks and accompanying materials and then move on to "A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar" and then on to "A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar" (These books are a bit pricier but from the reviews from most people I've read about these books and other like them for grammar these seems to be the best not only in scope and how much they cover but also for not being as boring as most of the other books on grammar)


Just to explain why the grammar comes in so late for me, I tried looking up grammar points before but the sentences they were using as examples had unknown kanji and particles I did not understand in them so instead of focusing 100% on the grammar point I'm also trying to figure out this new kanji and how this particles works. IMHO it is just easier to do grammar after you have a pretty decent foundation.

ALL these books and the core 2k/6k have several pre-made downloadable anki decks for them. It is as easy as downloading them and starting the reviews.

But to really answer your question, I know a lot of people rely on the method of sentence mining but there is no need to do it when there is such great material already made for you out there. The point of sentence mining is to come across new grammar principles and new words and build up from there, but as I mentioned these books go through all the grammar points and particles with several example sentences. again IMHO these books and anki decks give you everything you need to study japanese to a JLPT 2 kyu, I think a dictionary of intermediate japanese grammar cover the 2 kyu as well.

And if none of the above applies to you or you still want keep going with the sentence mining method then I would suggest just trying it out for a few days. Is it something you can handle or is it just too much. Try it and decide for yourself because the "ready" feeling is different from person to person.

Hope some of this helped

after RTK I took about 1000 example sentences out of yahoo.co.jp... I also read the kanzen master 3級 grammar book... but studying grammar without lots of examples is like running water through a sieve. to read it is great but you will forget most things, so I say read it once quickly and then keep it as a resource for later when you have grammar questions.

After that I did 3000 subs 2 srs cards, core 6k, 1000 MCDs, and now am halfway through core 10k. obviously lots of varied immersion too.

I think it's presumptuous to assume you're going to do some strategy forever... like lifting weights your mind adjusts to the stimulus and marginal utility will fall. changing the question up is a good way to keep your mind on its toes.