I’m hoping to take the N2 in December of 2022, but may have to fallback to the N3 (depending on how far along I go with vocabulary). Vocabulary acquisition has always been my weak point, but hoping to do a concerted effort in 2022 to get to a comfortable N2 level. Also planning on going into “full immersion” mode in 2022, so hoping that helps with my JLPT prep and overall learning.
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I think it will depend on my case. If I pass N3 this december, then I will give a try to N2 this summer. Otherwise and in any case, I aim for N2 in december 2022 
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My dream is to get n1 one day but I am still not good enough to accomplish it in 2022. I will just continue to study and skip jlpt 2022.
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I’m going to aim for N2 in July 2022.
I just took N3 in December (and passed N4 in July 2021). I don’t know my result yet, but I did better than I thought (found the answer key on Reddit afterwards) and I think it’s better to push on forward and further my knowledge rather than to study the same materials for another 6 months.
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I took N2 this December and I think I’ll pass. It felt ok difficulty-wise, so I’ll try N1 next year. Not sure if it’s going to be July, since my country has a test only in December and going abroad might still be tricky due to covid.
N1 won’t be easy though. I tried the sample test and even though I could do it it took way too much time. Need to practice reading a lot if I want to have a chance.
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I got myself the Shin Kanzen Master series. Typically, I don’t like test prep books, and prefer to only use them for final preparation. (For instance, I didn’t pick up a test prep book for my C2 French proficiency test until I was maybe just a few months from the test, and I only got it so I could see what the test format was like. The last thing I did before the test was watch many episodes of the French dub of Mythbusters, not flip through the book.) The reason is that I feel they tend to focus too much on exam skills, which may make your language use artificial. However, I find that SKM really aims to tackle the finer points of advanced Japanese, and even the MCQs are really well crafted: for the grammar book, for example, you can tell that each one is meant to remind you of a feature of each structure that was mentioned in the explanations. I really appreciate the precise, no-fluff style of the books, and I hope to finish them all (except perhaps the kanji volume, which I’m not expecting to be that useful) before the test.
That aside, since my real goal is beyond the N1 (i.e. typical adult native fluency coupled with technical proficiency in domains that interest me), I’ll definitely be trying to spend more time immersed in Japanese. Reading lots of news articles worked very well for French, so I think I’ll do that with NHK for Japanese. That should help me read more quickly during the N1 as well. I might also try to spend more time watching things in Japanese, like documentaries or travel shows, in order to work on my listening skills. Once I’m sufficiently advanced, I’ll probably start looking for more technical material in the sciences, because at the moment, I’ve only dealt with technical stuff in linguistics, and only for the purpose of learning how certain grammatical structures are used, to be frank. I might only do that after the N1 though: it really depends on how quickly I progress. It would be nice if I managed to pass the 一級 of the 日本語検定 in Japan some day, and I would like to try, but that’s some way off.
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I couldn’t get a seat for N5 this December, so I took the realistic practice test from JLPTsensei with strict time controls and got 80%. JLPT doesn’t ever give you a grade, but I think 80% would be a clear pass.
Therefore, I’m going to try to take N4 next December. One level a year seems to be my pace. I’m about halfway through N4 vocab and a third through N4 grammar, but I’m going really slowly.
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I’m planning on taking the N4, but not sure whether to do it in July or to push it out to December.
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That may be kinda off-topic, but I am kinda curious about why you all decided to do the jlpt exams.
Personally, I am aiming for n3, but it probably wouldn’t give me any advantages whatsoever… so it’s just for fun
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I’m aiming for N2 in December - I failed N3 a few years back so if I can sit that in July I will (because I want the certificate, I’d be annoyed if I had one missing), otherwise straight to N2. I’m not doing it for professional reasons, but I find that studying for something specific allows me to structure my learning, plus who knows, maybe it’ll come in handy later on in life.
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I use it as a measure of progress, I guess. Also, I work in a job where it is not needed, but looks good on my CV alongside all my other languages.
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I want to take the JLPT N4 test, and pass hopefully! But I am still too new to this world of learning Japanese, so I want to take things easy. But I do hope I can achieve at least N5 level of Japanese by next year.
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Well, I am planning to take N4 test this summer, though it may be quite tricky (i really need to learn grammar and tackle listening). Still, I have a feeling I can do it, after all, my master degree in Japan awaits!
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Pretty much to check if I’m improving. Plus, if I get N1 it’d be a benefit if I ever want to get a job in Japan.
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Out of curiosity, what are all your other languages ?
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So I thought even though I made this thread I should explain my situation. I Have been studying Japanese for 1 year now but honestly my level didn’t change at all during that time my pace is still very slow.
I plan to take the JLPT n3 hopefully. But realistically speaking I will probably fail or get to lazy to study.
I always push back my studying as I always say I can do it tomorrow or I’m too tired. Even though I know I spent the whole evening watching Netflix.
I have the whole kanzen master series for n4 …
I like textbooks because they make me feel like I’m improving. I’m able to pass N5 and probably n4 but it still seems like a bad idea to take the n3 . But I will do it anyway because I need to push myself to get to the point I need to . Good luck to everyone also I will be starting a study log! Bye
~ Imtryingjapanese
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I’m Hungarian, so that, plus English, German, Czech (+ I can read and understand Slovak from that), and a bit of Italian.
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I have a similar issue, I think it’s only available during December, but sometimes you can take it in Summer. Im in New York. Yes, I also want to take the N3, and hoping by summer I have a decent grasp on it.
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I’ll have to look if it’s even open to take here next year. Been thinking about taking N3, but wondered if I should aim for N2 instead.
In February/March I should have a better grasp on where I’m at.
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Hamburg is usually the second city that holds the test in July. It was cancelled in both 2020 and 2021 though, as far as I know, so who knows if it’s actually going to take place this time 
I suppose it’s a possibility that N1 & N2 are going to be held there.
(If so I will probably take a shot at the N2, even though my chances might not be amazing yet 
)
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