JLPT 2019!

[neosim]

Thanks for the response, will give it a search and try to figure it out!

[conan]

So I realize now why my certificate was so late, apparently they were waiting for my birthday to give it as a present. Pretty nice surprise

[Tyogin]

I’m very late to the party but I’d figure I’d post my N5 experience, since it was my first time taking the JLPT. I went in after cramming for a week or so beforehand since my college classes got really busy prior to when the test was. I took the test in LA, which was thankfully only like 45-60 minutes away from me.

I felt pretty good on the kanji section thanks to WaniKani. There were a few that I was a bit shaky on since they were the more complicated kanji stroke-wise that just get taught to you at the beginning of standard textbooks, but overall this section was pretty good.

Questions about vocabulary were a little trickier for me since in the week I had to cram I didn’t make it through all the vocab I wanted to. I knew this going in though, and the practice tests that I took told me that I had most of the stuff down, so this section was fine as well.

The individual grammar questions were honestly the hardest part for me. There were particles being used in ways that I wasn’t familiar with yet (still working through Genki I), and the star questions with the four blanks were pretty difficult for me as well. Definitely my weakest section.

Interestingly, the longer reading passages were very doable, despite my grammar point issues. I finished those with a bit of time to spare, so that was a relief for me.

I felt like Listening was hands down my strongest section. I did some listening practice stuff beforehand and I was really able to focus in and understand those. There were a couple that I know I probably missed, but the others I felt really solid on.

I checked in January and I passed! Hooray! Fast forward to March and I’ve just received my certificate as of a couple of days ago. Total scores ended up being 66/120 on language knowledge, 49/60 on listening, which put me at 115/180 total (88.5th percentile, A’s on each individual section). Initially looking at the numbers I was a bit disappointed with my performance, but taking the percentile rank in mind and the fact that I probably should’ve studied more I feel okay about the whole thing. The reasons I took N5 in the first place were to assess my weaknesses, give me incentive to study more, and to learn how the JLPT worked for the tougher levels I’ll eventually take. I feel like I achieved all of those, so it was definitely worth it.

Anyways, thanks for reading. I’ll definitely be taking N4 this December, and this time I’m going to study more throughout the year so I don’t have to do so much right before the test (And so I remember it better, of course. I didn’t lose any knowledge as I just ramped up on Anki and Bunpro and I’m still doing those, but it would’ve helped to have certain bits internalized more.)

Thanks for all of the other stories in this thread, it was fun to read! Good luck to everyone taking the JLPT this year! がんばって！

[fustian_garb]

I’m in the UK and my certificate arrived today! 93.5% percentile which was a nice surprise after initially being a bit disappointed with my marks.

[Windgreen]

My certificate arrived yesterday!

Unfortunately it was folded, but there’s no other way, my mailbox is small.

Anyway, I want to take this as a reminder to keep going with my Japanese studies, and to become more consistent, even if at times I need to “reduce the scope and stick to the schedule”, as writer James Clear says.