I passed N2 back in July, so I was intending to start taking the N1 this July even though I don’t expect to pass that soon. But, I think I might postpone that so I can chill on the hardcore study and spend more time doing speaking, listening, and reading, while studying Kanken writing and expanding my vocab without overwhelming myself too much.
Right now the plan is still to take it, just to gauge where I’m at. But I may just wait until December to give myself more time and a more relaxed schedule.
JLPT N5 on December 2020, that is the only JLPT offered where I live (PNW). I feel that I will be ready to take it since I have about a year to go.
I am using WaniKani and Bunpro. I also am starting on Genki I since I already have the main book. I just ordered the accompanying textbook and I also splurged and bought the Dictionary of Japanese Grammar. (yellow book). Also looking into trying italki for a community tutor that I can work with on Genki I.
This will be my first attempt at JLPT so wish me ! I wish everyone the best as y’all prepare for your exams!
according to wkstats.com (Charts), WK Level 18 will mean you’ve learned 99% of JLPT4 Kanji.
For 100% you need WK Level 27, but you may as well learn the handful remaining JLPT4 Kanji manually before that if you don’t have the time
don’t worry about your reading speed yet, you just started! Many people only recommend frequent native reading from level 20-30, where you will have learned a lot of common Kanji.
I personally was still quite slow with Yotsuba at level 20, needing to look up a lot, but it taught me a lot, especially using bilingualmanga.
I’m planning for JLPT4 too
maybe after that JLPT3 in December, just for a try, i’ll be lvl 60 then. Let’s see.
I went to Paris for the December test when I did N4 in 2018. It would be doable to come to the Netherlands one in July with a nightbus, or better, an overnight stay in Leiden, so you can rest. It is a pretty little city!
That’s plenty to get nearly a perfect score on the vocab and grammar… and then get crushed by the listening section. Don’t neglect that <– (like I did)
I passed N4 when I was around level 11 if I remember correctly, and I had no trouble with the kanji. I did supplement a little when I was studying if I saw that a kanji I hadn’t learned yet on WK came up repeatedly. So it’s possible to pass at a lower level on WK, but it depends on your confidence/self-assessment of your skills.
It’d be best to aim for higher levels (like Saimin said, level 18 would mean you’re well prepared!), but I’d also recommend adjusting your studying to deal with your weaknesses as the test gets nearer. I personally felt pretty confident with kanji based on the practice tests, so I eased off WK a bit to spend more time on my weaknesses (listening and grammar).
Kanji and reading have always been my strong point, so during the actual test I finished with time to spare in the first two sections…but I was absolutely frantic during the listening portion! I could tell other folks had the opposite problem–I saw people who didn’t finish their vocab or grammar sections, but seemed totally relaxed during the listening.
That’s what I thought back in the days, but since I got the N1 with a meh score, and since I have made a lot of progress since then, I want to see how much better I got.
(That being said, about half my points were from the reading section. Since that’s the only thing I have been doing over the past year, I don’t think I can hope to see much improvement in terms of score…)
Well, I think even though the US is huge, there’s still neighbouring countries, like Canada. And many people don’t live that far from the border. There are even trains running from New York to Toronto and Montreal, so there’s not even the need to take a plane!
Sure, but I googled “Helsinki to Stockholm flight” and it said it takes about an hour. And google tells me a train ride from New York City to Toronto is 12 hours…
Well, but a flight from New York to Toronto is only 1.5 hours, so it’s quite comparable. With the trains, that’s really unfortunate - in Germany, the same distance (e.g. from my hometown to Berlin) would take a bit less than half the time (5.5 hours), so I think that’s the classical chicken-and-egg problem of “no demand” → “no service” → “no demand”… Gotta break that vicious cycle at some point.
I have been studying Japanese since September or so last year, and will be moving there in January. I want to pass the N2 at the end of 2020 or beginning or 2021. Let’s see if I can pull it off after 16 months of studying including 1 year of immersion.
! I wish everyone the best as y’all prepare for your exams!
time traveller!