hi 
I’ve been learning Japanese for the past three months and I’m just kind of curious how long people in the WaniKani Community took before feeling ready and strong enough in their knowledge of the Japanese language to take the n1 test.I’m alone and because of this my knowledge on conversational Japanese is pretty weak. I bought Genki which is an elementary book for Japanese (If you didn’t know) But I find myself stuck progressing in the book because so many aspects of the book require and ask for the reader to work with a partner which is an obstacle I tried to get around by downloading the app Hello Talk but it’s just helpful–I’m rambling sorry
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Hi ihrtbears4, welcome to the Wanikani community!
I’m probably not going to be of much help here, but I’ll try my best.
First of all I think it’s great that you’re thinking of many aspects of Japanese language, not just readings of kanji and vocabulary, but also having conversations. I’m in a similar boat to you in the sense that I don’t have any practice partners, but my goals are mainly in listening and reading, so I don’t mind it too much.
As far as my understanding goes, I believe Genki has a work- and textbook. Dependent on what you bought, you might want to take a look if the other one adds any value. Before buying, perhaps you can find a version on the internet. Other people here (like myself) have an account on bunpro.jp, a Wanikani like system for grammar. Compared to Wanikani though, you’re a lot more free to determine your lesson tempo. Perhaps you want to give it a try as well.
I’m not nearly good enough to try N1, but am a fan of taking smallers steps. You might want to start slow and see if you are able to answer some questions from N5 or N4 from the following website:
https://www.jlpt.jp/e/samples/forlearners.html
You’ll be pleasantly surprised to see that conversational skills aren’t tested during the JLPT. (at least they weren’t when i took it last time).
Personally I went looking into JLPT when I was level 14 in Wanikani, and figured that N5 was too easy. I went for N4 and passed that when I was around level 18. Wanikani level is not the best indication of skill, but it is at least an indication of time spent. If you’re doing grammar together, you should be fine at similar levels.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask or browse the forum. People here are generally helpful as long as you’re respectful. There are topics on grammar, words, other resources and topics on reading for beginners, containing word lists, etc. So you should be able to learn a lot here
Also: simple wanikani related questions can be asked for example here: New People Questions! ~~~<3 [Lost?! Confused?! We're here to help!]
As a character from a certain christmas carol would say: Come in, come in, and know me better, man!
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By the time you hit level 50 you’ll probably have that figured out.
I took the exams in order after one and a half years of studying, starting with N3 (once a year). Once I passed N2 I figured I might as well go for the N1 as well, so I did the following year. Never really thought I was ready for it though, I just went and took the exam.
Just to be clear… You’re aware that N1 is the hardest level and N5 is the easiest, right? You won’t accidentally become ready for N1 as a beginner. It will be the result of a long process of studying, whether specifically for the test or more organically.
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