Jlpt 2018! (Results are now online!)

All our coats and bags, etc. had to be left at the front of the room. We were at least allowed mechanical pencils and/or pencil sharpeners.

I put Wanikani away for about a month an a half so I could focus on studying specifically for the N3. I felt weird not doing my reviews the entire time.
I’m glad to be back, and I’m glad the test is over with. I’m pretty confident about how I did.

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Whelp, I failed. :sob:

Vocab and grammar were a breeze, in spite my brain having an unwarranted paranoid episode midway that I’d confused the meaning of きのう・あした・きょう despite that fact I’ve never once actually done so. So thanks brain! I had enough time left after each that I honestly should have tried N4, but I wasn’t sure where my level was after my few year hiatus when I booked.

Then there was listening…my weakest by far. I was tired and nervous, and when I get nervous I get distracted by my thoughts and tune out everything around me. I kept tuning back in mid question and was super screwed. When I managed to focus long enough they seemed pretty manageable. I guess there’s nothing for it but to practice it on a timer until it stops freaking me out.

If I complete とびら by late next year like I plan, I think I’ll try N3 next December.

oof. N4 - the vocab and kanji, I’m pretty sure I did perfect or near perfect. Then it went all downhill from there. Grammar was brutal for me - I totally needed to practice more. The listening comprehension kind of bowled me over as being way harder than I expected - the first two sections in listening I think I guessed at every other question. The last 2 sections were a lot easier, though.

The horrible thing is that I did take sample N4 exams with my teacher’s help, and it was vocabulary and some grammar that I bombed in those. :frowning:

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I pretty much had the same experience as you. This was my first time taking the JLPT so I was really nervous. I had done a practice test beforehand and I would have passed. However, today’s test seemed quite difficult to me. I also got confused by 和やか, and it was on the 1st page! In terms of kanji and vocabulary, I did not do so well. For the reading section, I was unsure most of the time but it might have been fine and i didn’t run out of time. For listening, I was sometimes confused even though listening is usually my strength. I guess I was just tired and I have been sick for the past week which doesn’t help with concentration. Some of the questions were easy, but for others, I wasn’t sure I had grasped the points of the dialogues. I also feel very unsure about whether I’m gonna pass N2 or not. I’m worried because I got hired by a Japanese company 2 weeks ago, but they want me to pass the test first before I can join their company. I would feel really embarrassed to tell them I didn’t pass it this time so they would have to wait for me to take it again. Well, I hope both of us get to pass!

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Took the N5 today. The kanji section at the start of the test was cake; it contained kanji from the wanikani study method level 7 and below except for the kanji for “week” that was the only one I have yet to see in wanikani, but luckily I knew it. The Grammar portion was easily the toughest part, but so long as you know your articles and how to use them (as well as a decent amount of vocabulary) it could be done. The last section for listening was also cake (again so long as you have elementary vocabulary), you could pass it in a breeze no problem. Section times: Vocabulary: 35 mins with 10 used for instruction, Grammar/Reading: 55 mins with 5 used for instruction, Listening: 35 mins with 5 used for instruction.

Had I known that with what study I had how easy it would be I honestly would have tried for the N4. Keep in mind this is self teaching and about halfway through Genki 1.

I hope this serves as a good baseline for anyone else looking to take the test!

So I actually did not take it this year. I didn’t have a ride.

Oh my…, all the best for you and hats of to you for being so motivated!

I might retake the N4 if I fail because it would bug me but I know that I could not manage the jump to N3 so fast. The N4 preparation was motivating but at the same time almost made me forget the real reasons I‘m learning Japanese for and I’m afraid I would burn out if I jumped immediately to N3 prep now. On the other hand just reading your comment makes me want to aim high and go for the N3 right away… Good thing I don’t have to decide right away.

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This is was also my first time taking the JLPT (yay for leaping into N2 together!), and I had taken a mock test two weeks before, which I failed. I knew my chances of passing this time were slim, but I tried my best, and I was surprisingly focused and awake throughout the test.

I knew grammar would be a weak point for me since I didn’t study that much at all, and so I had less time to do the reading sections, which I probably should have allocated more time. It always takes longer to read than I expect, especially if I need to reread for comprehension… I also got tripped up by the reading section about personality quirks, so I almost gave up on it… In the end, for the two language knowledge sections, I didn’t complete 4 questions, I think.

The listening was more difficult than my mock exam, but I think it was appropriate for the level, even if it meant I didn’t catch everything that I maybe should have. I still feel the most confident for this section, at least comparatively to the other two. However, my room was “unlucky”… Our audio started to fade out in the beginning, so they tried to continue with some tech help, but that failed… So they stopped it, waited for back-up materials, and replayed all the listening, including section 5 because some of the audio skipped. It skipped in the second playing too, but it was honestly enough to guess the answers, but they were at least generous in replaying it for us. Basically everyone started complaining (groaning) when the audio was faulty, and at the end it was clear we just wanted to be done. We were let out an hour later than the projected time on our vouchers. (And yet, there was still a massive line for the bus when I got out.)

In terms of rules and strictness, honestly, I feel like they could have been more strict. Taking it in a university in Japan, I was in a lecture classroom with rows of tables and two spaces in between myself and the person next to me (and an aisle separating myself and the person to my other side). They gave us vinyl bags for our phones and told them to put in our bags, and didn’t allow bags to be put on the chair next to us. We were supposed to put our bags on the ground next to us or below our table. However, it seemed like my coat placed on the seat next to me (and the person next to me did the same) was alright. I swear I heard vibrating during the listening section, but they didn’t stop or seem to hear/check to see if it was cellphone, and it kept going for a long time. Right after they stopped the listening the first time when the audio was faulty, everyone took out their phones and sent messages or whatever they were doing. The proctors didn’t say anything about it, and it was the same for when we finished the test - they weren’t finished collecting everything when people already pulled out their phones and gathered their things to leave. Anxious, I suppose. Also, I’m pretty certain some people copied their answers on erasers and things. To what end, I’m not sure, but in general it didn’t seem as strict as I expected.

In any case, I tried to do what I could, and I figure if I don’t pass, hopefully by July I’ll be better prepared to sit the test, and when I pass, I’ll be done because I don’t really have any reason to take the N1 at the moment. I got lucky with 和やか - I know someone whose name is 和 (なごみ) and I knew the kanji for 穏やか(おだやか), so I’m glad I got that one at least. I was surprised to see a lot of kana and furigana for kanji I expected to be tested for N2, but perhaps all for the best. I hope others felt that they got something out of the experience, even if they’re not as confident as they would hope. :slight_smile: Either way, we all have goals to work towards~ がんばりましょう!

皆さん、お疲れ様でした!(みなさん、おつかれさまでした!)

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Took the N2 for the first time today. Also missed 和やか (upon a quick search it looks like it’s an N1 vocab word?? idk why that’s fair to put an N1 word on the N2 test) and a lot of the vocab questions had words I hadn’t seen before. Luckily the grammar went okay for me which should make up for the kanji/vocab questions I missed. I thought the reading was okay, but the listening was an absolute disaster for me which is weird because I considered it my strongest point (when taking the N2 practice test on the JLPT official site I only got 2 questions out of 30 wrong, but for the test today I’m only confident about 2 I got RIGHT…). Idk why I wasn’t able to keep up with the dialogues, maybe I was just too tired :\

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4th try on N4 - I’m cautiously optimistic. Did well on kanji and vocab. I think I did a little better on all the other sections than last time. If so, I’ll pass. Pass or fail my 2019 resolution is already to pass N3 and hit level 60 on WK!

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Yeah that went poorly. I knew it would, I wasn’t ready for N2, but I know that my biggest thing to work on is reading speed and listen listen listen!

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That was a boy who couldn’t remember people’s names? Sheesh, I do need to study more… (j/k, I knew those.)

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Like other N4 takers in this thread, I crushed the first section, did ok on the grammar section, and struggled on the listening section. I knew all that going in, I guess I was just hopeful that it wouldn’t be as hard as it was. Respect to anyone that passes the N4! :slight_smile:

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Took the N3.

My peers were surprised I wasn’t taking N2.
After the vocab and grammar sections, I was thinking I should’ve taken N2, too. Only guessed ~2 answers on vocab, ~5-6 for the reading section (and that’s more due to time constraints than anything else).

Then came the listening section. There were ~30 questions, and I think I had to guess on ~29 of them. Wow.

This was honestly a huge shock, because by this point I’ve taken 6 semesters of Japanese (which were all taught in Japanese), and I even spent 5 weeks in Japan this summer. 4 of those weeks, I was “alone,” because I was doing a program that was independent of what the rest of my class did. No other English speakers were around me for that entire month, apart from the university Eikaiwa teacher, and I rarely ever even saw him.

And yet… despite all of that… apparently it’s not enough for me to comprehend spoken Japanese ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


EDIT
An accurate representation of my JLPT listening experience:

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I might be biased since it was the same for me too but it feels like a lot of people had difficulties with the N4 listening. Since the scores are scaled maybe we are lucky and it really was a bit harder than usual, a lot of people had problems and the tough questions will get less weight/will be worth fewer points (at least that’s how I think this works?).

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Took N5! Vocab and grammar were a breeze, but when the listening came around…
I can only hope I managed to get the 20/60 or whatever for it :disappointed_relieved:

I guess I really do need to work on listening. Either way, I’ve got my sights set on N4 in July.

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image

ahahahahahaha! thats punjabi (gurmukhi) script you’ve got in the middle there. my native language.

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Toronto N5 taker here!

First off, going to give some props to the guy who accidentally handed in his test voucher at registration and left it there. That little exchange in the orientation between the incredulous professor and him helped loosen me up.

Huge credit to Wanikani for making vocab a breeze. Wanikani helped with grammar too indirectly because there were some verbs in the reading sections that I wouldn’t have known if not for here.

Grammar was definitely the toughest section for me as I’m not even completely confident with the contents of Genki I yet. Those damned blank-blank-star-blank questions -_- I pushed through though. Ran out of time and had to make a blind guess on the last question. Definitely found the time crunch an issue.

The listening was easier than expected though, which was a pleasant surprise. I lost focus on the very last question and completely missed what was said though. Oops.

N4 this time next year! Although given what I’m hearing here maybe I shouldn’t be so eager. It sounds like there’s a big difficulty spike, particularly with the listening.

Here’s hoping we all passed!

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According to…? If it was on N2 it’s an N2 word.

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