Discussion The JLPT Thread

[saladesu]

The Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) has been offered by the Japan Foundation and Japan Educational Exchanges and Services (formerly Association of International Education, Japan) since 1984 as a reliable means of evaluating and certifying the Japanese proficiency of non-native speakers.

The JLPT has five levels: N1, N2, N3, N4 and N5. The easiest level is N5 and the most difficult level is N1.
N1 difficult ←→ easy N5

N4 and N5 measure the level of understanding of basic Japanese mainly learned in class. N1and N2 measure the level of understanding of Japanese used in a broad range of scenes in actual everyday life. N3 is a bridging level between N1/N2 and N4/N5.

Linguistic competence required for the JLPT is expressed in terms of language activities, such as Reading and Listening, as shown in the table below. While not noted in the table, Language Knowledge, such as Vocabulary and Grammar, is also required for successful execution of these activities.

official website

This thread is for everything about the JLPT test - questions, tips, experiences...

 

[aegon-rokudo]

JLPT test

Hello,
I'm going to do the japanese proficency test level N4 the 5 of december. Someone in this forum knows a site where I can download materials for the exams?(past test, mp3 files ecc).
Someone already did the test? Does he have any tips to share?

 

[Dancing wind]

Re: JLPT test

JLPT N4 is the old JLPT 3. So you just need to google materials for that one. Example: http://www.jlptstudy.com/N4/index.html
Good luck.

 

[saladesu]

Is anyone intending to take the test this year? Did anyone take the new "syllabus" (N_) last year? What was it like and was it what you expected?

The last time I took a JLPT was 2-kyuu in 2009 ("old" syllabus). I think I've gotten pretty rusty as I don't get to use a lot of the 2-kyuu words very much in "daily life" and manga translating I'm considering taking the N2 this year to see just how rusty I've gotten JLPT-wise.

 

[benelori]

I can help people who want to do the N5...I did 4 kyuu the last year the old system was still running...so if anybody needs any help with that I can deliver...

 

[Ominae]

Any sites to help learn about the kanjis up to at least N3 level? I may be pushing my luck in trying to be a J-E translator.

 

[Zell_ff8]

Just buy a dictionary and read, so you can search the kanji you find on the way. or search by rankings of frecuency.

I always recommend Kodansha Kanji Learners Dictionary. There you have 2200 kanjis to learn, and that book is just awesome and extremely fast to search, the only thing that beats it is a densi jisho.

 

[cmertb]

Any sites to help learn about the kanjis up to at least N3 level? I may be pushing my luck in trying to be a J-E translator.

You can find JLPT study lists (including kanji lists) here: http://www.jlptstudy.net/

However, I recommend against memorizing kanji by rote. You can do it only when forced to do so at school. It's hard to imagine a normal adult willingly forcing himself to copy each kanji 100 times or so...

The method that worked for me was the book "Remembering the Kanji Vol 1" by James Heisig TOGETHER with this site: http://kanji.koohii.com/

The basic gist of the method is:
1) Memorize kanji radicals, not kanji as a whole
2) Memorize each kanji as a collection radicals, not strokes
3) Use mnemonic devices to remember which radicals a kanji consists of and how they're arranged relative to each other
4) Memorize kanji in the order that helps memorization, not frequency of use or grade/JLPT level
5) Do not waste time memorizing kanji readings at first (personally, I would recommend that you never memorize kanji readings at all... you can incidentally memorize them when you learn vocab)

In retrospect, these points make a lot of sense. Since I don't know any other method that uses a similar system, I'll just recommend Heisig. Or try to learn by rote like everyone naively does at first, get frustrated, give up, then try Heisig.

As a final general note, when memorizing anything, not just kanji, do use SRS. It makes a lot of difference.

 

[mikkih]

Next JLPT test is coming up : Sunday, July 6th, 2014 in Japan. Is anyone taking a test?

(In the US, next test will be held on Sunday, December 7th.)

 

[noname00]

I took it last year for the first time was pretty exhausting but alright... It was the first time I had a test like this, duration of 3 hours + break? (forgot the schedule but something like that ) but everyone around me was like, easy easy but they also talked about university or work and stuff... I don't want to go to universityyyyy. but back to the thing about the JLPT, I thought I didn't pass for the 3 months of waiting (I even forgot it until the date the results were available on internet... °.°' ) but when I saw that I passed it was really like woooooohoooo my older sister thinks of taking the N1 now, too (6 years older = 23 years). I gave her my nearly untouched learning books (I just looked at the pages with pictures and read the articles in it) but I wished I had learned a little bit more... it's really good for me that they don't write the points you achieved on the certificate
just to share my experiences of my first and last JLPT N1 experience, hope you will learn more than me and good luck for all who take the test this year.

 

[mikkih]

I took it last year for the first time was pretty exhausting but alright... It was the first time I had a test like this, duration of 3 hours + break? (forgot the schedule but something like that ) but everyone around me was like, easy easy but they also talked about university or work and stuff... I don't want to go to universityyyyy. but back to the thing about the JLPT, I thought I didn't pass for the 3 months of waiting (I even forgot it until the date the results were available on internet... °.°' ) but when I saw that I passed it was really like woooooohoooo my older sister thinks of taking the N1 now, too (6 years older = 23 years). I gave her my nearly untouched learning books (I just looked at the pages with pictures and read the articles in it) but I wished I had learned a little bit more... it's really good for me that they don't write the points you achieved on the certificate
just to share my experiences of my first and last JLPT N1 experience, hope you will learn more than me and good luck for all who take the test this year.

Big, big congrats to you, noname00! That's such a great achievement.
Hope your sister will do well on the test as well.

....................
For those who are thinking about taking a test...

JLPT website: link
Test Date: December 7th, 2014
Reg: Dates may vary. Please check your local website.

USA: For those who take JLPT in the U.S.
Online resistration for 2014 test: starting Sept 1, 2014
Reg. via mail: Packets are available beginning Aug. 20, 2014

 

[mikkih]

I received a notice that one MH member had passed N1(2014).

Congratulations!


​

 

[YumaKuga]

Hey, so im taking the N2 test in Dec 2016 and I was wondering if anybody could link me to good books for Grammar,Vocabulary and Kanji. Im taking this test so that maybe I can go to school in Japan for Manga. Thanks

 

[cmertb]

Shin Kanzen Master books are usually recommended. There are separate books for vocab, reading, grammar, listening. Maybe there's even one for kanji. There are scans available online, so you can just google for them. They're called 新完全マスター in jp, and use 語彙 for vocab, 文法 for grammar, 読解 for reading, 聴解 for listening, and I'm sure you know how to spell kanji. Although I bought mine from Amazon.

That being said, I don't think the vocab books are of any use, there are plenty of vocab lists on the internet for any SRS app you might want to use. There are also lists of grammar points, so I wouldn't use a book for that either. Besides, in my experience, all those grammar points, from the internet or from books, did not come in handy at all. Whatever points there were in the references did not appear on the test. Moreover, the fill in the blank grammar questions were more complex than one or two words, I think you had to insert practically a whole clause. Basically, I ended up relying on my inner sense of Japanese, which was clearly not up to the task, but luckily, the grading is very lenient and curved. I.e. rather than be good at Japanese, you just need to be better than the other losers.

Similarly, I don't believe studying kanji will be very useful. Kanji questions on the test are based on vocab. E.g. you are given a word in context spelled out phonetically, and you must provide the correct kanji spelling. Or you are given a word spelled in kanji, and you must provide the correct reading. Therefore, your success comes not just from pointlessly memorizing kanji, but from memorizing actual words from the vocab lists and the kanji used to spell them.

Naturally, all vocab and kanji lists include words from past tests, but you'd better believe they try to insert words not on those lists into new tests. I remember how I got a nice wake up call on the very first question of my test when they wanted to me to give the reading for 厳正, and that word hadn't been on any vocab lists I had studied (or in any books, for that matter). I was like "I'm 90% sure it's gensei, but it could possibly be genshou too...", and of course the test had both options. Agonizing about the answer to the first question is a serious psychological blow for the rest of the test, to the point I still remember it. Just be prepared for it.

Now, what I would concentrate on if I were you is reading. Get the dokkai book by all means. You must get used to those questions. Not only get used to them, but learn to read FAST. Reading is the biggest section and it takes the most time. You must be a fast reader to do well overall. I only took the N1 test, and I'm sure N2 reading is quite a bit easier, but I remember this is the part that seriously kicked my ass. I had been scared of choukai the most, but after the reading section, I felt like listening was a time for me to relax. I swear I drank like two bottles of water during the break after reading. But do get the choukai book as well. Those would be the only two books I'd find useful for studying. The rest is SRSing vocab and grammar points. We're very lucky there is no writing on the test.

Oh, and a final note... If you have a whole year left, you should go for N1. Yes, it is difficult, but, like I said, the grading is very lenient, and a pass is still a pass, even if by a small margin.

 

[YumaKuga]

Shin Kanzen Master books are usually recommended. There are separate books for vocab, reading, grammar, listening. Maybe there's even one for kanji. There are scans available online, so you can just google for them. They're called 新完全マスター in jp, and use 語彙 for vocab, 文法 for grammar, 読解 for reading, 聴解 for listening, and I'm sure you know how to spell kanji. Although I bought mine from Amazon.

That being said, I don't think the vocab books are of any use, there are plenty of vocab lists on the internet for any SRS app you might want to use. There are also lists of grammar points, so I wouldn't use a book for that either. Besides, in my experience, all those grammar points, from the internet or from books, did not come in handy at all. Whatever points there were in the references did not appear on the test. Moreover, the fill in the blank grammar questions were more complex than one or two words, I think you had to insert practically a whole clause. Basically, I ended up relying on my inner sense of Japanese, which was clearly not up to the task, but luckily, the grading is very lenient and curved. I.e. rather than be good at Japanese, you just need to be better than the other losers.

Similarly, I don't believe studying kanji will be very useful. Kanji questions on the test are based on vocab. E.g. you are given a word in context spelled out phonetically, and you must provide the correct kanji spelling. Or you are given a word spelled in kanji, and you must provide the correct reading. Therefore, your success comes not just from pointlessly memorizing kanji, but from memorizing actual words from the vocab lists and the kanji used to spell them.

Naturally, all vocab and kanji lists include words from past tests, but you'd better believe they try to insert words not on those lists into new tests. I remember how I got a nice wake up call on the very first question of my test when they wanted to me to give the reading for 厳正, and that word hadn't been on any vocab lists I had studied (or in any books, for that matter). I was like "I'm 90% sure it's gensei, but it could possibly be genshou too...", and of course the test had both options. Agonizing about the answer to the first question is a serious psychological blow for the rest of the test, to the point I still remember it. Just be prepared for it.

Now, what I would concentrate on if I were you is reading. Get the dokkai book by all means. You must get used to those questions. Not only get used to them, but learn to read FAST. Reading is the biggest section and it takes the most time. You must be a fast reader to do well overall. I only took the N1 test, and I'm sure N2 reading is quite a bit easier, but I remember this is the part that seriously kicked my ass. I had been scared of choukai the most, but after the reading section, I felt like listening was a time for me to relax. I swear I drank like two bottles of water during the break after reading. But do get the choukai book as well. Those would be the only two books I'd find useful for studying. The rest is SRSing vocab and grammar points. We're very lucky there is no writing on the test.

Oh, and a final note... If you have a whole year left, you should go for N1. Yes, it is difficult, but, like I said, the grading is very lenient, and a pass is still a pass, even if by a small margin.

Thank you so much man. This really really helped a lot. Im really glad there is no writing. When I saw that, I was a little less concerned. I will have to see, but I might be able to pull off N1..

 

[cmertb]

Oh yeah, here's another useful tip. Take this free test right now: http://www.j-cat.org/en/

If you are currently at 200 or above, by all means go for N1. If 150-200, you might consider N1 as well if you study really hard for the next year. Based on statistics from this test, those who have passed the old 1-kyuu (which was slightly easier than the current N1) score in the 250-300 range. N2 is therefore 200-250 range.

You can take this test once every 6 months (or more often with a diff email ), so you can track your progress in preparation for JLPT.

 

[YumaKuga]

Oh yeah, here's another useful tip. Take this free test right now: http://www.j-cat.org/en/

If you are currently at 200 or above, by all means go for N1. If 150-200, you might consider N1 as well if you study really hard for the next year. Based on statistics from this test, those who have passed the old 1-kyuu (which was slightly easier than the current N1) score in the 250-300 range. N2 is therefore 200-250 range.

You can take this test once every 6 months (or more often with a diff email ), so you can track your progress in preparation for JLPT.

Alright buddy, thanks. I also found the books you said on Amazon and already got them ordered. I gotcha on the different emails

 

[Niffer]

Hey, so im taking the N2 test in Dec 2016 and I was wondering if anybody could link me to good books for Grammar,Vocabulary and Kanji. Im taking this test so that maybe I can go to school in Japan for Manga. Thanks

As cmertb suggested, the Kanzen Master books are useful.

But I strongly suggest the grammar book series "Try! 日本語能力試験 文法から伸ばす日本語". It has books for N5 to N1 and I've used them for N2 and N1. They're amazing at explaining grammar in a way that makes sense and in a way that really helps your reading comprehension!

(I wrote a review on it here if you're interested)

If you're taking N2, don't forget to brush up on the N3 vocab and grammar as well, at least the more difficult ones. And as cmertb suggest, just keep reading and make sure you understand what you're reading.