The good news: I just gratuated from JLPT N2 on the fifth test repetition.
I started my N2 journey in 2019 where I took JLPT N2 the first time. (I study Japanese since 2009)
To prepare for this I did WaniKani Level 0-60 from 2017 to 2020.
To refresh some of the Kanji for the last four JLPT N2 tests between 2023 and 2025 I unburnt / resurrected Kanji that I found in mogitests I did for preparation to avoid repeating Level 0-60 all together aka resetting WaniKani.
Now that I have managed N2 finally, I am worried that I now indeed have to repeat the 3-year WaniKani journey to be well prepared for JLPT N1. There are probably appearing Kanji that are rarely used. So itâs not so âeasyâ like in JLPT N2 where you can get through knowing the more common ones.
But I canât just study the higher levels like Level 40-60 because there are still difficult composita (in WaniKani called âVocabularlyâ) formed with easier Kanji from level 0-40.
What do you guys recommend me to do? Should I unburn everything and go through all levels again? It might be a little faster than the first time I guess.
Kanji knowledge is almost certainly not going to be your problem if youâve done WK through to L60 once. The JLPT does not focus heavily on kanji knowledge in particular.
What I recommend is that you do a sample test under timed conditions, and then look at the results and identify what for you were your weak spots (which questions you got wrong, and why you got them wrong). Maybe thatâs raw kanji; but more likely itâs vocabulary, or maybe listening, or (true for a lot of people) reading speed and comprehension.
Once you know what areas youâre weak in, you can come up with a plan for how to improve them. If you donât, you risk sinking a lot of time into something (like repeating all of WK) that might not even make much difference.
I second that recommendation. If you are not 100% on Kanji, you might miss out on 1-2 questions. But not being able to keep up with the listening sectionâs speed and convoluted dialogs, or not being able to read fast enough to finish the reading section in time, or being able to read over some minor unknown words are much higher hurdles in my experience. You will lose out on much more points overall.
Now, take my opinion with a grain of salt since I only took N3 and N2 for now, but both times I nearly got 180 points.
thank you for your advice. I see. So itâs like the N2 where it is more about reading speed. listening and comprehension rather than kanji.
I did exactly that with N2. Doing sample tests under real conditions and identify my weak spots and working on that.
Itâs a relief to hear that. But maybe I still have to go through WaniKani once again, just for life - making sure I remember all the kanji right. The âburningâ is not guaranteed in my experience.
Thank you for your comment and advice! It sounds like the same pattern like the N2 where you probably need to practice more reading speed and understanding, rather than being perfect in the kanji section.
Congratulation to an almost perfect score in N3 and N2 - I am far away from that!
Itâs a very important skill to read over some minor unknown words and still get what is being said there. This kind of putting things together in your mind is not for everyone.
I might still go for a WaniKani repetition, I feel unsure if I remember everything right. The burning process is maybe not so engraving as it sounds.
Itâs a good idea to maybe first do a mogitest and than see how it goes.
I think I would suggest that you have a look around for other SRS options that are more open-ended. Youâre going to want to learn vocabulary that isnât in the WK fixed set, and maybe even occasionally kanji that arenât on WK. Plus your priority for what to learn right now isnât going to be the same as WKâs fixed ordering. If you find something more flexible it will let you add words that you need as you encounter them in your study and wider reading; and when you run into words you learned in WK and then forgot you can throw those in too.
(Personally I think that WKâs complete lack of any forward path from âcurated word list and orderingâ to âtool for ongoing self guided studyâ is one of its biggest downsides. But it is what it isâŠ)
