Hi all people who have taken the N1. How did you find the reading & grammar sections, specifically in relation to the Kanji (i.e. ignore any grammar difficulties).
Does WK level 60 (assuming you actually remember everything you learnt) pretty much get you what you need for N1? Judging by frequency statistics, and anecdotal comments regarding the obscurity of the Kanji WK doesn’t cover, my guess is yes. Wanted to get some other thoughts
Note: yes I know there’s a few Kanji WK doesn’t cover that are actually quite common. I’ll be sure to study those, and some are already vaguely familiar through reading practice.
If you do all of WK, kanji recognition should be a breeze. The problem you will encounter is new compounds you’ve never seen, if you haven’t been reading N1 level content. There are thousands of N1 level words that you’ll be able to guess the reading of without an issue, but you’ll sometimes be stumped by the meaning or usage.
I wouldn’t worry too much about entirely brand new kanji. Just because something is a jouyou kanji, doesn’t actually make it likely to appear on N1. I’ve taken N1 a few times now, and done lots of prep for it, and I still came across new kanji in my prep for Kanken pre-2, which doesn’t even cover all of jouyou.
So that means I never saw those kanji at any point in the taking of N1 or my prep for it. Those kanji you’ve never seen before exist, but I wouldn’t worry about them appearing on the test. At least not in large numbers.