JLPT N4 exam

Japanese Language
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Hello everyone,

I would like to attend the exam for JLPT N4 in July. I am currently level 14 in Wanikani so I will be past level 16 until July.
My practice is like to do a Wanikani session when I wake up, and one ine the evening (45mins a day roughly). I also use Anki with the Core6k set to 5 new words a day.
I have started working a bit with the Genki book LVL 1 and I listen to japanese podcasts for around 3-5h / week. And finally, I recently started to read japanese book for beginners with furigana.

I think that I should feel ready for the JLPT exam N4, but I don’t feel like it.

Is there any ressource you would recommend to be well prepared for that exam ?
I understood that the exam is also bit special to get used to.

I would appreciate any recommandation you have regarding that exame and my learning journey.

thank you very much :slight_smile:

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Sounds to me like you’ve got your bases covered. You’re studying vocab and grammar. You’re reading native material for bonus exposure to words that might not come up in the textbook. You’re even practicing your listening. Not much more I can think of to add to that.

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I would do practice jlpt tests and practice jlpt questions. Also familiarize yourself with the test format eg the different question types, the number of each type of question , and the time you have to complete each section. Also, be sure to bring a non digital wrist watch with you to the exam. Some places (not all) don’t display the time in the testing room, nor do they give you updates on how much time has passed. They just tell you time is up, and you need to stop without any warning. I’ve used this strategy and it helped me pass the N4, N3, and N2

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I do not think just Genki I will be enough? I heard after II, but do not quote me on it,

There are sample questions on the JLPT website and probably more elsewhere on the Internet.

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Thank you very much for your answers. I will practice some jlpt tests and mark the lessons in the Genki book where I struggle a bit, so I can come back to them often. I also have a bit of trouble with conjugaison globally, so I think I will buy the Genki conjugaison app and practice.

Thanks again =)

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I wanted to do a follow up to let you know how it went, and explain what I did, what went well and what didn’t :slight_smile: I hope that it can help someone =)

TL;DR; I failed the N4 exam , I got 87 / 180, so I missed it by 3 points :sweat_smile: So close !

So here is what I did as a preparation :

for grammar and vocabulary :

  • I did some online tests quite a few times, but I felt that the difficulty on those test (depending on which website it was) was inconsistent, so the results were inconsistent.
  • I was level 20-21 on Wanikani at that time, and I can now say that I was missing quite some N5-N4 vocabulary
  • I started reading japanese novels (with furigana) 2 months before the exams, and that helped a bit.
  • For grammar, I used a bit the 1st Genki book. I feel that this is a very great resource for N5, especially aimed to be used in groups with a teacher. Working alone with the genki book is very hard, especially if you don’t want to write.
  • For grammar, I used two videos mostly “Japanese quick grammar n5“ (and same name with N4) where most of the grammar rules are covered. I listen to them at least twice a week for 2 months before the exam. The only catch when learning thos grammar rules is, the mean point is not to understand the meaning but the structure (like remembering that “sugiru“ means too much is great, but in the exam you will most likely be asked the form of the verb before (stem)).
  • I can also say that it is not super easy to find N4 exams examples for grammar or vocabulary, or at least I struggled to find some with answers and explanations.
  • For listening, fortunately, there are quite some videos avaibles with answers on youtube. I also did that twice a week for 2 months. My results were just above 50% when I practiced, and that’s also the note I got on the exam. I would recommend to practice that, because getting used to the format and question type will really help during the exam.

What I would have improved :

  • Listening is mostly a question of practice, but I would recommend to check with a teacher for the part 3 and 4 of the exams. Those can be tricky to understand why you didn’t pick the correct answer without explanations
  • For grammar and vocabulary, I would definitely use an anki deck for both of them. The author of the grammar videos above has created an anki deck that you can buy (very low price 2$ if I am correct). This deck has all you need for up to N3, and you can split by level, and type (voc, grammar). It contains like 5 examples of each grammar rule, and each card is both eng to jap and vice versa. After all, this exam is expecting you to know some very specific vocabulary like schooling, tasks etc… which you might not encounter in wanakani or in the resources you are using.

In conclusion, I was a bit frustrated not passing the exam, but since I was that close, and since I only learned by myself, I think it’s a pretty good result after 1 year and a half (my first 6 months were not super productive :frowning: ). Anyway, I wanted to try the exam for personal reasons, so I had nothing to lose if I failed. I can also mention that since it was my first JLPT exam, it was very stressfull to live the exam process for the first time. I will be more relaxed for the next ones =) I also didn’t pass any exam for the last 15 years :sweat_smile:

So good luck everyone =)

Definitely trying again next july (it’s only once a year where I live)

thank you everyone for your comments above, they were really helpful and that helped me a lot !

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I guess Anki decks and videos are popular learning methods these days, but I prefer textbooks. Minna No Nihongo especially offers a lot of exercises to reinforce what you’ve learned.

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