I experimented and stayed really late at work one day to just study Japanese. And other than my coworkers eventually wanting to chit-chat with me, it really worked out great! I was focused and not distracted at all like I am at home. (It also helps that I’m studying at a proper desk at work rather than just my bed at home.)
I think I’m going to stay a couple hours late at work every day in November just so I really get some solid study time in before the JLPT.
Exactly! Even though I live alone, I find it really hard to focus on studies at home. I sometimes take whatever I want to do to a cafe or library and get a tonne done there. Also when I am babysitting in the evening, after the kids are in bed I will do some Japanese study instead of turning on the tv. Or I just browse the forums 
Yeah but you cheated by applying to N3 
Of course for someone who already completed several books N3 is going to be too easy. I could barely even read NHK easy news when I took the N3 !
How would I have known? 
I kind of want to take the N2 practice test after taking the real N3 (to not distract myself). First I still need to take the N3 listening practice test and see whether or not I’ll hopelessly fail that section.
I feel like I just paid a lot of money to fail a test.
I also feel like I already said that.
Either way, still going to try my best. That’s all I can do.
Home life is not making it any easier, but idk, just make it to the test and then we’ll see.
I am going to Edinburgh for the test, so I also feel like I am paying a lot of money for a test I’ll fail. Still a month to go, though, so I will try to do a lot of vocab study. I feel like that is my weakest point, maybe.
I love those questions! Favourite part of the test! 
Those questions make me question whether or not I know any Japanese at all.
I’m always questioning that.
Those are the only part of the test that at least pretend at language production, so I like them on principle.
(I also actually think they’re fun. 
)
(That sadly doesn’t mean I always get them right.)
Ugh, I have a love-hate relationship with those. Usually upon checking the corret answers, I’m like “Oh, well, duh, yeah, that makes sense!” even though just minutes before when I was trying to work it out I was like “Well, okay, that part -can’t- go in the starred space!”
But also they’re kind of fun?? 
I just encountered the 4 blanks question and did 3 for practice. Got all 3 wrong.
Welp, back to study then.
These are like puzzles. You should pay special attention to the parts of speech. If your answer ends up having a particle right after a verb, probably you got it wrong. Or an adverb in front of a noun. Those are some red flags I can think of.
So I got a 22/27 on the practice listening section for N3. Though my focus was really fading towards the end. I barely even heard the last four questions.
Turns out maybe I should have signed up for N2 to push myself more.
Challenge you say? Does that mean you are finally ready for 獣の奏者?
Yes, indeed! My current plan is to open a poll in December for when to read it (basically between January and February) since I still want to squeeze in 霧のむこうのふしぎな町 first.
So challenge one is to read a kids book faster. Then challenge two is to read my first legitimate fantasy novel in Japanese.
I don’t mind kicking off the poll and member recruiting sooner though if you want me to. I’m not sure it’s necessary to wait until December to propose my schedule and see who is interested. What do you think?
Don’t worry! I have a lot of other books to read in the meantime. I was just teasing
Hey everyone preparing for the JLPT, how is it going? 3.5 weeks left to prepare – still a lot of time to work on your weaker areas.
Exactly the same here. I was so exhausted after the N3 in July, my motivation was just so low, I felt really burnt out and never wanted to think of the JLPT ever again. But now I feel my energy returning and I’m starting to think of next year. Gotta prepare for our next WaniKani meetup in Düsseldorf in July 
I was originally not even planning on attempting the test in July because I was just so done with everything. Then I started thinking about just taking the N3 again to get a better score (I got 134 out of 180 in July). But now I’m considering aiming for N2 and just deal with the fact that there is a high probability of failing but at least it is a motivating goal to work towards.
Those are the worst, I agree! And that is exactly my strategy: there are not that many of them and I do them very quickly and then in the end come back to them. So far I always had some time left at the end anyway. If you do 1-2 sample tests and time yourself you will have an idea of how much time you will have available, I always found that helpful for deciding what to do and what to skip.
I’ve been dealing with the dread 4 blanks questions by learning all the sample sentences in Minna No Nihongo by rote - it’s really helped with my word ordering.
Well, my invitation / voucher just arrived in the mail. So I guess I’m really doing this thing.
. o O ( ToTaLLy FrEAkiNG OuT ) O o .
Wow they send you a voucher, eh? Are you taking the exam in Hamburg?