Any コツ for JLPT reading section?

Japanese Language Reading
1

Like the title says, I know how to read and recognize kanji and it’s meaning but when they ask for certain questions like how did the author feel about or comparing two sentences. I have trouble figuring out what is what and you will have very limited time to think about it, because answers they give from prep books such as 新完全マスター or 総まとめ are similar and hard to distinguish which one is correct one out of 4 questions.

2 Likes
2

I think the general rule of thumb for those type of exercises is: read the questions first and the text later.

That way you already know what you’re looking for while you’re reading.

I can’t offer much advice other than that, but maybe someone else can. Have you tried practicing with older JLPT exams? You’ll find a bunch of them online if you look for them.

腹を括るしかないかもしれない :stuck_out_tongue:

9 Likes
3

If two choices are similar, maybe

  1. There is one with a different wording and the idea is actually definitely not written in the passage
  2. The grammar of one is different, which would make it different to what’s written in the passage (perhaps very much the opposite)
  3. If it’s a general theme question then maybe one has only paragraph A’s ideas etc instead of ideas found throughout the reading (1 paragraph vs entirety)
  4. One is using a different word to state the same idea (言い換え) but can only be inferred via keywords, repetition of a certain word etc etc

In addition to checking questions first, if there’s no underline, ofc you gotta check fast for keywords then skim the area around that keyword. Make sure you actually understand the question so you can pick out the necessary parts and not be tricked into selecting a choice which applies to the next question instead.

If the question asks for author’s feelings, opinions etc then you check for the である、ではないか etc (the textbooks also state this). Also, if such grammar isn’t present then certain words will convey the point.
Other than that, you just gotta practice until you get the hang of it. If you could practice with someone, that’d also be nice I guess

2 Likes
4

I have noticed that some questions have like two very similar, for example 1 and 2, but 3 and 4 look different as well just one word is changed.
As for comparing text like what is more appropriate for A and B is what confuses me, cause it is not written in the test and you have to kinda guess.

1 Like