But all you would gain from that is the momentary satisfaction of having a higher score. Don't think of not remembering a kanji as a failure but rather an opportunity to improve your knowledge.

It then makes sense that a kanji you almost but not quite remember right now should go to the restudy pile so that next time your knowledge will be more solid. Also there is a good chance is that even if you barely remember a kanji now, you would forget it by the next review.

Well, that is impossible, I'm afraid. I am usually able to do about 30-50% of my reviews before work, but the rest has to be done after work. I'm not one of those people who has all day, I have a fulltime job. I often do push part of my reviews a day later, but that doesn't mean I'm less busy the next day, so I want to get them done on one day.

The thing is: I often find myself reviewing and then coming across one that I know I know, but can't come up with. Then I have to go do something else, like go to the toilet, or something. I don't think about it at all while I'm doing the other thing. But when I come back, 90% of the time I do know the kanji.

And if I really don't know it and skip it, I'll fail it at the end of my reviews when it comes up anyway. So what does it matter? But when I know for sure I know it, because I've had it a million times before, I often get it after not thinking about it for a few minutes. So a skip option would be perfect for that.

It's not about a higher retention score; I hardly ever check that anyway and it doesn't bother me if it's low. It's the feeling of really knowing it and having it at your fingertips and that's so frustrating it makes me do worse on the next few kanji as well. It's like not knowing the title of a song you've heard so many times, and a few hours later you suddenly think of it and you're like: "How could I ever forget that??" That feeling.

It's not the same feeling as barely remembering a kanji, believe me. I have that too and when I get those right I often feel almost as though I should fail them anyway, because I only barely remembered them. These are kanji I know really well and just want to skip for a few minutes. That's all.

Last edited by Koos83 (2010 April 15, 2:41 pm)