Only a few chapters to go, and for the first time I will have finished the HSK Words in Heisig Order.

One week ago, I noticed that contrary to my settings words were not added 'fast' anymore. Would this have anything to do with the fact that I have currently some 1300 items on my list due for review?

Perhaps this question answers itself, but I do not understand yet why this must be so. My goal - certainly right now - is to finish rather quickly and then continue to practice this list and in the process add simplified characters. Finally, I also can practice tones, hide pinyin etc.

A second question that has been on my mind for some time: if I go to a list and click 'study section', why will the system give me also characters from outside that list? I'm just bringing this up, because it seems at odds with the essence of 'study section'.

"My goal - certainly right now - is to finish rather quickly and then continue to practice this list and in the process add simplified characters."

If that's your goal, you should temporarily set the "Target Retention Rate" in your language settings to the lowest value in order to reduce the number of items in your queue and 因此 get more new items.

Thanks for your suggestion, I shall try this.