I think it might just be (without a veery generous dose of luck), judging by what I’ve read about it:
If you’ve been researching/doing 漢検 I assume you’ve already seen this Russian guy’s page, but I’m linking it just in case you haven’t (and maybe for others who are interested). I found his descriptions of the 漢検 very interesting.
And you probably also know Bret Mayer’s page where he has a lot of useful resources for foreign takers of the 漢検.
Those two are among the three(?) people from countries with no kanji background known to have passed 1級 at least once.
I haven’t researched much to be honest. If it’s really that small of a number, I’d love to add to that number and find more people who are willing to work for it. This shouldn’t be such a rare thing. I want it to be more normal for everyone to study and master kanji. Japanese people are studying my language (English) very hard… I want to take it right back to them and show them that their stuff isn’t inaccessible either. Nobody studying Japanese should feel like it’s special to pass kanji tests lol. Let’s get more people into it.
Had a late morning and worked literally straight through my waking hours. I managed to get my reviews done, but couldn’t do the next step page which is a review section.
Well, you got me haha, I’ll definitely try to perfect level 1 one day, but I will need a looooooooooooot of work and time for that. But, in my opinion, nothing is impossible
let’s reserve the “legend” title for someone who may eventually pass level 1 with a perfect score
i just had enough free time, enthusiasm and stubbornness on my hands - the 3 indispensable resources to somehow break through the 160 points ‘dimensional rift’
I’m really sorry for my impertinence but I’d like to disagree here. I read what you wrote about it, I saw the numbers of successful test-takers, especially foreign ones, looked at the question types, and it really does seem to take quite legendary amounts of diligence, dedication and effort to pass.
That’s exactly what all the legends say!
I actually shared your story with my friends and family when I found it, that’s at least step 2 on the road to legend-dom.
I participated in a kanji marathon yesterday, where we attempted to write all 常用 kanji in one day. (Or in my case, all N2 kanji.) I managed to get about 2/3 of the way through…
This was the first time I ever consciously practiced writing kanji on paper though (afair), and I’m pretty satisfied with my work.
(Also this took me like six hours my hands are still hurting.)
@NeoArcturus great job! If you ever feel like you’re unsatisfied with the balance of your kanji, I can really recommend using kanji grid paper and trying to copy from a sample that’s also on grid paper. It takes a little bit longer, but imho so worth it because it improves your handwriting so much.
Recently, I decided that I want to learn how to write the Kanji taught in Japanese schools. I’m not going to test at all because I’m just learning for fun. These are all reviews for me. Soon, I want to start learning how to write a few new ones a day.
(efugeni)
What do you think about going for gold? 
