Hello and happy new year! I’ve decided I want to pass the N3 (or maybe even N2…?) this year, so I figured I could make a study log to keep me on track.
As for my Japanese background — I took Japanese in college, think we went through Genki 2. Then I studied abroad in Kyoto my junior year and when I came back class learning felt much less interesting, so I dropped it. I got back into learning Japanese last year and have been doing WK semi-consistently since then. My overall goal, besides N3, is essentially to be able to read and understand whatever I want in Japanese (Kosuke Kindaichi books and untranslated video games mostly).
My daily tasks right now are:
WK reviews and lessons
Anki Core 10k deck at a very slow pace (to cover any beginner stuff I’ve forgotten)
reading — right now on よつばと！11
I watch some Japanesetwitchstreamers semi-daily, but I’d like to start working through Game Center CX w/o subs for more listening practice.
I have adhd so hopefully (crossing my fingers lol) keeping this log keeps me studying. We shall see!
I haven’t read any よつば yet so I’ll try to get a few pages in before bed.
Took an N3 practice test this morning just to see where I’m at. Not quite sure how they officially score it but I got about a 70%, with my lowest score in reading / vocab (just don’t know all the kanji!) and my highest in listening. Promising! I’m waiting til I get to WK level 30 (?) before I really throw myself into proper studying, but 70% feels like a good starting point.
With the passing score for most levels in general being I think 50% (with required minimums in each part), that looks really promising, especially if the weakest part is kanji/reading rather than grammar or listening. That is something that WK plus reading practice can definitely help shore up! But definitely keep working on the learning as a primary goal, and then at some point before the registration time for the exam give yourself time to do a couple more runs at practice tests and figure out where you feel you are then, and what level makes sense. Keep up the good work and welcome to the study log club!
WK has definitely been super helpful in letting me recognize kanji out in the wild even if I don’t know the words. I’ll definitely do one or two more practice tests before july so I know what to focus on when I really start studying for the exam. Thanks for the welcome (and that is a very cute beagle)!
あ、tonkatsuさん、一緒に頑張りましょう！I haven’t taken a JLPT before, no, and it’s been a while since I’ve taken any kind of test hopefully I don’t get too nervous when the day finally comes! Have you taken one before?
No panel today (tired). Watching sumo, which is fun, but just okay listening practice since it’s just the yobidashi calling the wrestlers in and the announcer telling you their names, birthplaces, and stables. I like the singing though. In the higher rank matches there’s commentators but I don’t stay up late enough to watch those live!
As a student, I used to get really nervous before standardized tests but I don’t get nervous before taking the JLPT (but maybe it is just because I have gotten older and have better methods to calm my nerves).
I have taken the JLPT 3 times:
JLPT N5 passed
JLPT N4 passed
JLPT N3 (probably failed)
Many people told me not to take N5 because it is ‘so easy’ (which I don’t necessarily agree with) but I just wanted to see how the test is structured. I passed but got a lower score than I expected and it taught me that I needed to adjust my study approach. However, taking the JLPT is expensive so doing many practice tests might be the way to go if money is tight.
Oh I hope you passed!! It IS expensive so I wanna be relatively certain of passing by December…my main worry besides nerves (which I think I can handle) will be just the length of it, it’ll be tough to stay focused for that long I fear.
Have you ever taken a JLPT exam before?
Hopefully it clears up quickly or even more ideally already has.
hopefully I don’t get too nervous when the day finally comes! Have you taken one before?