Do reviews give you more points than learning new material? Not quite

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1

If I learn German I can do about 76 new words per hour which is about 30,000 points.
If I do less than that, like 60 words (more common with other languages studied), I’ll get about 20,000~25,000 points, which is about the same as what I will get while reviewing 600 to 700 words per hour using speed reviews.

So I just wanted to contradict that statement which I’ve seen here floating around, which doesn’t look to be very accurate at all. Usually, from what I’ve seen, an hour of review and an hour of new stuff will more or less almost equal the same amount of points, I would say, and it might be even in favor of the latter.

Tests were done using the mobile app and only using speed reviews.
Results may differ using other forms of reviewing which were not tested.

2

On the website there are a few options to get points;

  1. Learn words and first review, if you don’t make an mistake you will get obout 45x6+150= 420 points p/word, the only thing is that you have to wait 4 hours between learning and reviewing.

  2. Speedreview, you get around 3650 to 3680 points p/100 words correct. that is around 36.5 to 36.8 points p/word, it is not very much but if you know all the words, you would be able to have 100 words speedreviewd under 5 min.

  3. Reviewing, this is at the start of a course a good way to get points, but later on when you finished a course it will get harder to get points. At some point you can only review a word every 180 days.

  4. Reviewing, this is another kind of reviewing. When you wan’t to review words but have none to review, you can still klik the review button and you will review all the words in that level/course. But you only get 1 point p/word.

  5. Learn and reset course. This is a way to get points fast but it is not very useful, I personally don’t like people doing this because it is the same like pointsfarming, like some courses only have 1, then you just spam 1 and enter.

This are all the options to get points for the website I think. Personally I use speedreview to get points but it will get annoying to do the same all the time. But it is for school so it is worth the time :slight_smile:.

Hope this will help you with getting points.

3

Hi,

are you only talking about points or also what learning style makes more sense?

IMHO you should NOT be using the “speed reviews” to actually REVIEW words/phrases/sentences which are in your backlog (to be watered).

Speed review is only about multiple-choice, so it is testing your remembering, not the RECALL phase of your knowledge, just like DuoLingo mobile apps.

For watering words on Memrise on the web interface I STRONGLY want to suggest you to use Cooljingle’s “all typing” user script combined with several others: “catch up review”, “wrong answer skips”…all scripts run together with the Memrise timer disabled by “Memrise timer disabler” user script.

When you have to type the words in the target L2 language, you are actually being tested on RECALL.

The points vary for each word (I get from +45 to +134 / +150 points max; probably depends if I water it the same day or how many times I got the words right in sequence??).

“All-typing” (including settings on the left side) is really really great if you have to type in the phrases or even longer sentences.
You can only manage this if you disable the timer.

I would ONLY use speed reviews on finished courses when there are no “words” to be watered in the backlog.
Yes, it may be fun from time to time to quickly select one of those words options you are shown on the screen.
IMHO this may further train your knowledge on old words (for good), you have not to be tested this day or week (soon), because their SR interval was put more back already by the Memrise algorithm.

Please note that you will NOT get up to 134/150 points per word if you use the speed review for active watering!!!

600 to 700 words in hour: Man, that is more than crazy :wink:

I am almost sure that you will not retain almost anything the next days as I really hate the speed review timer (especially on longer phrases/sentences) if you do so, don’t you?

My suggestion would be to not let the backlog queue fill as much as 600-700 words :slight_smile:
Or even better: If you really have to do so, to break the review into multiple 100 words x Y session steps to get the backlog queue down effectively.

With Cooljingle’s user script “infinitive learning” you can e.g have multiple 100 words review in a single review session, without having to restart the watering each time manually.

100-200 words review (all typing) is IMHO more than enough, or let it be maybe 300, that aftger that you should take a small 5-10 minutes break afterwards before you start the next review session.

The user script “Memrise Catch up review” really helps to keep your review backlog queue down, even if you maybe miss watering for a 3-7 days or even 14-21 days break of actively reviewing “words” (e.g on finished courses).

You shall recall/remember words/phrases/sentences more and more even next days / weeks after a review (you should see a constant improvement).
Therefore it does not really help IMHO to run through (quite long / exhausting) watering sessions, just like it does not help too much to quickly run through a DuoLingo tree (skills) or even use the mobile apps for strengthen excercises, which the SR algorithm would pick.

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4

I think, the review in question is not speed review.

The most points producing option seems to me to be the blue review - watering down words you learned - as long as you keep it without fail.

Of course this is directly linked to the number of words you have learned anyway.

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I thought that @Casper_duo meant how to get points fast, speedreview is indeed a bad option for watering, but when you finished a course and can’t review anymore but you want to keep your streak it is pretty useful.[quote=“Thomas.Heiss, post:3, topic:14053”]
With Cooljingle’s user script “infinitive learning” you can e.g have multiple 100 words review in a single review session, without having to restart the watering each time manually.
[/quote]

This is already a future in memrise itself, go to your profile (upper-right), go to settings-learning and you can review up to 100 words p/session. You also can learn up to 20 words p/session. 100 is enough I think so no need for a special userscript :slight_smile:. [quote=“petr.r.skupad8, post:4, topic:14053”]
The most points producing option seems to me to be the blue review - watering down words you learned - as long as you keep it without fail.
[/quote]

On a small course this will eventually not be an option anymore, 200 words are not enough to review at some point. Because the more you have correct, the longer it takes before you can review again. Up to 180 days :slight_smile:.
(This is based on that you have a streak going on on that course, without streak you can once learn all the words do some other courses and later review it again)

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6

True … I tend to avoid small courses anyway :-))) … seems to me like wasting time :slight_smile:

7

Learning. But points help me visualize time spent, review/words ratio, pace, compare progress with other learners, and make predictions, so I track them too very closely.

That is true. But I’m not opting for recall. That’s not my main focus. There’s a trade-off here. My focus is covering a lot of ground with speed while retaining recognition.
I want to understand what I hear and see. That is my main goal. Other parts like recall will fall into place on their own with enough exposure either by Memrise or external media resources which I also heavily input.

If you know Steve Kaufman then his method of flashcard SRS is just writing the word and the definition on the same side! So he is not even testing himself at all on the information!
He just uses it as another form of repeated exposure. I would link the video but I don’t recall which one it was.

My backlog was 3000 words which I was able to reduce to about 1000 after 3 hours of reviewing back to back.
The backlog was high because of the pace which was on average about 300 words a day in the last week or so.
One of those days I even managed to squeeze in 600 new words, which took almost the whole day. I was very exhausted that day.
I can’t do a lot of normal reviews as they are too time-consuming, too difficult because of the sheer quantity of new material covered, which in return will cause me to do more errors for words I can already recognize, which will result in increasing the, high enough as it is, backlog as their counter will be reset.
I’m not opting for a perfect recall. That will gradually come on its own. I’m looking for recognition and retention. Reviewing such quantities on a frequent basis seem to do the trick well enough.
I’m able to do old courses with 50+ correct responses quite easily, and new material with 20~30 correct answers before I get the 3 strikes.
I think those are great recall rates.

After pausing from progressing forward, and many speed reviews under my belt, I will shift my attention more towards testing recall, to words which should already be quite familiar by now, because I’ve seen them many many times before. You should see the power of reviewing such quantities each day. This is such a case of quantity being better than quality.

I learned 4000 words in the first month, then took a break from it for almost 20 days, in order to use readlang instead, and it didn’t affect my performance in any visible manner.
I’m pretty sure I know most of the material I studied quite well. At least in the case of recognition. Without a time constraint, the mistakes would be even more few and far in between.

I don’t hate speed review. I love it. It is the only way that allows me to use the site the way I want it. Some long sentences are a bit hard to catch entirely but I always make sure to listen carefully to the entire recording while it’s still leaking through to the next question.
You probably hate speed review as you do it on the site, and there’s no audio, and it’s buggy, as after 30 question you get about half the time, and it becomes useless.

I can get x25 on the app when you answer 25 correct answers in a row.
Each 5 correct answer you get another x5 (I think so).
Besides that, you get 50 points for each question.
With speed review, you get either 50/42/36 points depending on how fast you answer them.
Max achievable is 50 x 100 = 5,000 points for a one complete, no mistakes, fast as possible, review session.
With a MAX potential of about 5,000X7 = 35,000 points per hour.

I don’t know this one. What does it do?

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8

i thank you can get 80 000 points / hour during review if you get everything right
never making a mistake is THE way to get lots of points in short time

so, just be a good pupil :blush:

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10

@IchigoSmof
Not with speed reviews you can’t.
35,000~40,000 is the max I can imagine at the moment after quite thoroughly testing this.

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what is the difference between speed reviews and normal reviews?
i only know 1 kind

12

I’m pretty sure speed review is the most lucrative form of review points wise, as long as you answer fast enough. With the blue review, you need to type a lot which is very time-consuming and much more difficult to accomplish.

Yes, it is. That is clearly stated.

13

These limitations don’t exist on the app so I’m not familiar with them.
You can review watered material and still get full points.

Speed review on the web is a bit quicker in the transition between questions, so you’ve there a potential for more points, but I don’t think it is very useful because it is buggy. It is not for me.

14

I totally agree - there is a BIG difference between speed reviews and learning by testing out and reviewing the normal way that exclude speed review.

I only use Speed Review when I’m in bed and can’t sleep - it has a soothing effect on me and the mistakes I make doesn’t hassle me so much as the normal review.

But only for lazy days or right before going to bed. I like that you can do both - DL is so different, there is only typing which makes me prioritize DL when I have the energy and focus to do it.

Just my 2 cents - and now Im broke.

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15

Compare the amount of daily progress, i.e words learned, being made with each approach.
There are tens of thousands of words to be learned. “Nitpicking” through all of them will take ages if it’s even doable at all. My choice is a simple one.

16

you made me discover speed review

it reminds me of thoseshooting games on fancy fairs

how can you get asleep after that?

but i’ld like to add that eg for learning kanji, i think speed review should be a fixed part of your learning process, to force you to reach a higher reading speed

how long does speed review already exist?

the reason it’s faster is that they give you less time per item to think, that they don’t review things, , and that the training season is not limited: as long as your answer is correct, the session goes on and you don’t lose time in between sessions

on the other hand it’s only usefuul if you already know it quite well

17

I use speedreview only for getting points fast when I don’t have much time to finish my courses. (I do them every morning so I won’t forget :slight_smile:) or when I have to become 1st in a course, (This is a private cours between a few clases on my school, I like the competition but it takes too long for words before I can water them again).

I do speedreview every day, but only on the website because here it is free, on the iOS app you have to pay to be able to do speedreview. Plus I like to do speedreview as fast as possible, (correct answer and hitting enter to go immedient to the next word, on the iphone there is no enter :slight_smile:.

For some who wants to know a bit more about speedreview:
On the website you get 25 points p/word
You can speedreview up to 100
You get every 15 correct answers 1 extra live (unless your live bar is full)
When you have 100 correct and 4 wrong (then you gotta be really fast and make no mistakes :slight_smile:) you get if im right 3664 points, I can do this under 5m.

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18

[quote=“L.u.c.a, post:17, topic:14053”]
I can do this under 5m.[/quote]
In the app, it’s possible to do it in 6m, but take a measurement in a period of an hour and not just 1 session to account for different factors which are time wasteful, so you can be more accurate.
Before starting the review sessions, note the current number of words left to be reviewed and the number of points gained, and after completing the hour-long session note them again and compare the results.

Here is a script I wrote that will help you count the total number of words left to be reviewed among all your courses. I wanted a single number.

It will add this button to the group page.

72970002b5c1fdc6c40d034e4772d2ac.png963×121 34 KB

You will need to create there a group with all your courses for it to work.

https://pastebin.com/raw/CkvmrBLv

19

After what you wrote, I wasnt sure, whether you might be right or me, so I tried to test it. I took the blue review for clean twenty minutes with my italian course. I made 23 000 points.

Well that by itself makes more points compared to maximum achivable by speedreview in such a timeframe.

And that is italian… i still tend to hesitate there a bit, or make some stupid mystakes in spelling. Next time I should try to test it with portuguese or russian where I to tend to not a make a single mystake at all :slight_smile: and that is producing really big difference in points, because every single answer is then for 150 points and I get them approximatly at the speed of speedreview… (just a small bit slower) (and you also get some bonuses for twenty perfect answers in row and so on :slight_smile: )

I believe: particular course and particular language is big factor here … if it something, where you need type long words or the language has short words - that makes a difference.

Also, if I would have to type it on PC keybord it would take forewer … I would not know how to produce language specific letters - fast enough. It is not a problem on the phone.

Nevertheless … this just fun part :slight_smile: I rather mix it for the purpose of sticking most to my memory, rather then maximazing points. However if I would be going for maximum poits (sometimes, just before midnight - I have to - in order to save my streaks) … this would be the way…

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20

I’ve never checked the blue review on the web, only on the app. That will suggest that the point system there is completely different than the app and much more biased towards gathering points, as apparently, you can do 3 times as much, or maybe even more, in the same span of time. On the app I believe you receive the same amount of points, with the blue button, as you would with the green button.
I tried to compete for my leaderboard so I guess that is how they are able to rack up those numbers… :joy:
I’ve tried to check it now on the web and I see that the point system on the app is quite simpler than what it seems here. You’ve here a lot more going on in that regard.

Thanks for checking this! That is very interesting. I will have to test it some more to learn how it works.
That will seem to make the overload rank that much more reachable, even maybe “easy”, as you can probably do about 2~3 million points a week. You will reach it within a few meer months.
I guess that is why some users have a lot fewer points than others.

If you check on my profile you will see my points/words ratio is just 578.
https://www.memrise.com/user/Casper_duo/

That is indeed triple of the base points system of just 50 points per correct answer in the app (with a little bit of bouns points on the side).
I also saw on the web that it is possible to even get partial points, for a partially correct answer, and I think you also get quite a few more bonus points.

What is the highest someone here was able to achieve in an hour?

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21

Nice, however I still must to make it yet a bit surprising to you :sweat_smile: … I am doing this on the app … and the rules on the app in this regard are the same as on the web. Yep, I checked that.

Now I am using iPhone for few months, before I used Android … it seems to me, that it was bit easier on the Androidd, however the rule of 150 points per perfectly correct answer is the same.

However I think I now well, why are you not getting it :-).

Rhe catch is saying “perfectly correct” answer … that dors not mean that you did not make mystake now. It means, that You never ever in history made one mystake in that word and never ever resetted its time clock for watering.

For example, if I ever made a mystake in a word “bastare” … then next time I review the word I will get for correct answer only 45 points … and next time after that I will get 54 i think … and so on. However it will never again be full 150 per answer.

Poor You, because the same happens when you review the word by speedreview instead watering it, when due. Because speedreview will give you points, however it will at the same time reset the clock down and decrease number of points you can get from it by watering it down.

This resetting of clock by speedreview only applies to words which are already in the backlog to be watered. It is safe to speedreview words, which are watered.

So badicaly, I first water all my words (in app) and only then I go to speedreview… this the absolute way of getting points fastest.

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