Anyone tried Kanken?

There were some changes regarding the level distribution of some kanji, namely that all the kanji used in names of prefectures moved to 7級, and other minor changes and shuffling around, so there’s probably gonna be a whole lot of revised editions out soon
https://www.kanken.or.jp/kanken/outline/data/alterclassofkanji2020.pdf

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Thanks for the link! Gonna check it out now, super curious as to the details. Gonna have to make sure I go back and hammer in the ones added after I’ve already passed.

Yea, I didn’t mean to imply that only 6/5 had been revised, they’ve already released revised versions of all their books from levels 10-1. I just linked 6 since it was what I ordered, and the other levels should pop up in related.

Edit: Looks like I have an extra 25 kanji to go back and self-study from the new level 7. Though I’ll also have a handful of repeat kanji from level 7 back on level 6 now, so I’ll take that trade!
I wonder if these revisions mean we’ll see a new 漢検トレーニング “game” for Switch soon as well?

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Yeah, it never made sense to me that the kanji for the prefectures wasn’t officially in elementary school, because the kids have to learn all the prefecture names at that time anyway. I guess they officially didn’t have to learn the kanji that go with all of them, but I think in practice they usually did.

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@Leebo Any suggestions on how to study for Kanken? I would like to study for the Level 7, and downloaded the official app, and received 七級 on the placement test.

Sorry to disappoint you, but they’re not:

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(this is indeed the new edition, I checked some of the moved kanji)

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That’s so bizarre, I could’ve sworn when I ordered it yesterday on my computer it said hardback, but looking at my Amazon app now it says paper? I also, for whatever reason, misunderstood that it was a bigger book but another look at the dimensions shows thats also incorrect :joy:
Ah well, no big deal. I guess I should learn to read more carefully!

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What app is this?

Probably 漢検スタート. It’s basically a collection of past tests you can do on your phone.

There are lots of resources mentioned in this thread. If you search for samples online you’ll find plenty as well. For level 7, you probably don’t have to do much other than lots of sample questions to prepare. For higher levels, there are some things that might require a little more effort, like yojijukugo, but until then it’s not too bad.

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Yep, Leebo is right, see my post quoted above.

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So I just finished Step 18 in the 漢検ステップ6級 book yesterday, took another practice test today(just on the 漢検トレーニング2 3DS game), and passed with a 159/200! I was really just taking it for practice, and didn’t expect to pass at all (let alone by such a wide margin, there were even a couple I missed purely because I went too fast), but here we are. I know it’s not a super great tell of whether I could get a real pass or not, especially now that it’s outdated, but it’s still really cool to see that progress. Aiming for a 5級 pass in summer, assuming tests don’t get cancelled (they probably will).

Slightly unrelated anecdote

To make up for all of the prefecture name kanji that got moved to 7級, I used the Japanese Prefectures deck on Kitsun, except I made myself write the prefecture name before I typed it in/clicked on it. So now not only did I mostly make up for those kanji (I still missed out on a bunch of vocab that uses them), but I can take a blank map of Japan and write in all the prefecture names by hand, which is pretty handy because now I always know exactly where people are talking about when they drop prefecture names. I think I actually know Japanese geography better than American at this point (New England can get out of here with its nonsense).

Also, now that the 3DS app is outdated, I’m really starting to hope for a Switch edition 漢検トレーニング3 to come out soon. The app could use a refresher, and I think the larger, higher-resolution screen would lend itself well to the format.

Congrats on passing, especially with only having studied up to Step 18!

That would be really cool! My studying is probably way too unbalanced with only 四字熟語 and writing practice because using paper practice books is harder than doing Anki cards, so having a game would probably be a great help.

I can’t ever recall having to answer with a prefecture name on any level of the test though, interestingly. Maybe that’s just my personal experience.

Thanks! I’m not ready for when 四字熟語 start to show up in full force. That’ll be when I officially start to really struggle I think. I feel like I should mention that it’s less of a game, more of a digital, automated collection of past questions/practice tests. The best feature imo is that if you can mark problems as needing extra practice, and those all get collected into a specific area where you can study them separately from the other content. That’s been really useful for me when I come across vocab I can’t write not because I don’t know the kanji, but because I didn’t even know the word.

@Leebo Yea, I don’t remember any from the early levels either, but I’m wondering if now that they’ve made all prefecure-kanji 4th grade (7級) or lower, if they’ll start to show up on that test. Regardless, it was a fun and easy way to get the writing down for those kanji that I probably won’t see again on higher levels, and I’ve already passed level 7 so I wouldn’t come across them at this point, even though some of them were previously as high as level 2 (if I’m remembering correctly).

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It’s possible, I suppose, but I have a hunch that they just have a no-proper nouns policy. Though maybe there are exceptions.

That’s entirely possible, and you obviously have much more experience than me with 漢検. The only thing that makes me think they might (I just went back and looked at the revision link that @Myria shared a few replies ago), is that the only kanji that were moved from higher levels to lower, were each and every prefecture kanji that was previously a higher level than 7 down to 7. Every other change moved kanji from either 7 to 6, or 6 to 5, presumably to make room for the kanji that were moved down.

Doesn’t really matter though. I guess we’ll find out if someone starts studying for the new level 7 and posts about it here :man_shrugging: (or checks the practice tests in the new level 7 book)

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I just bought a Kanken 7級 practice book the other day, and I glossed over the practice test answers but could not detect any prefecture names (mind you, that does not mean too much as I don’t know all of the prefecture names in Kanji yet :joy_cat:). But while I was flipping through the book I thought that if they put a prefecture name in the test, that would be a huge advantage for the children from that prefecture because they are exposed to that name basically every day, and I guess, if nothing else, then that might be a good reason to not have the names in the test…

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This is a great point I hadn’t considered! I guess this way they’re still all taught in grade 4 outside of the 漢検 anyway, whether they appear on the test that way or not.

I do find it kinda funny how the revision goes to show that even the 常用 list is super trivial when it comes to which kanji are “hard” or “useful”, seeing kanji like 茨 and 栃 moved down from high school level tests (2級) to mid-elementary school :joy:

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I just noticed that the Kanken of 21st June 2020 is cancelled in Japan (and thus I expect it to not be held at all, in any country).

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For details see 日本漢字能力検定

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Makes sense, but disappointing that it comes to this…

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@Leebo
At the beginning of the thread you mentioned you used DS to practice for kanken. What are the names of some you recommend? Any kanji writing games I’m super interested in as I suck at writing kanji in general lol.