Thank you!!!
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Thank you so much!
Well I dont want to pressure you or anything, I just think its good to be aware of whats possible in the time you have. And most people are more experienced than me here. Just my personal experience, how I used genki was I would study the vocab first, read the passage, study the grammar, do the practices in its own book with audio, then I would go back and reread the passage now that I know the grammar. Then I would do the workbook for the lesson.
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You have been so helpful, thank you so so much!
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Glad I could help!
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Sorry, Iâm interested in the JLPT as well and I just wanted to clarify. Do you mean passing rate as in, âyou only need to pass 50% to pass the test?â or âOnly 50% of people passâ? Thanks!
Also @OP, I think itâs totally possible to pass N5 in 6 months, and if youâre studying every day you could probably get to N4. Like others in the thread said, I recommend focusing on grammar and listening skills the most!
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The passing grade for the test is 50%
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Also I just want to add that maybe passing the test isnât so much the worry as learning the language is, at least for up to N2 where passing it would be useful for workingâŚ
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The overall pass mark ranges from 44% to 55% depending on which level youâre taking, but you must also achieve at least a 33% mark in each individual section.
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This is because of how the different sections are weighted differently, right?
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Oh wow, thanks!
I took a full mock exam (with time limits and everything) for N4 a few days ago and got around 70%-ish so thatâs really encouraging. Thanks!
At least N2 is my long-term goal because that is the minimum for applying to work for Japanese companies in my country. I want to eventually pass the N1, but thatâs a long ways off! Thank you for your advice.
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I honestly think itâs to stop you from devoting all of your attention to just reading and grammar and ignoring listening - itâs possible to get a pass mark overall with 66% on the reading/grammar section and zero on the listening.
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Good idea to concentrate on the listening section particularity. I found the Kanji very easy because I was already around level 15 on WK by the time I took N5, but failed on the listening, and didnât do that well on the reading/grammar. Second attempt I passed, but not with a fantastic score - mainly because I didnât do enough listening practice!
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Yeah, from what I hear itâs not that itâs particularly hard, itâs just that a lot of people tend to ignore it and end up doing bad on something that could really boost their grades.
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The biggest thing I noticed when I took the N5 is how fast the time goes. You can easily run out of time if youâre not careful. You either know it or you donât and you have no time to think it over (unfortunately)
So yeah, lots of practice exams and you should be fine!
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Probably should be pointed out that Genki I wonât teach you 100% of N5 material and after Genki II thereâs still plenty missing from N4.
Not sure if you could pass the N4 if you mastered everything in those two books perfectly, but Iâd pick up something like Tobira to fill the gap (or study the missing stuff from free resources on the web)
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Actually communicate with people using Japanese. Find someone online or something, but you absolutely have to get in the habit of using everything you learn in conversation from the beginning. If you donât, youâll regret it later. Trust me, thatâs what I did and I wish I hadnât. I had to spend years relearning everything again while correcting the mistakes and misunderstandings I had been making all along from the beginning.
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A lot of my friends from Japanese class took the JLPT after Genki. In their experience, you could pass N5 after Genki I and N4 after Genki II, as long as you have some time after finishing the books to fill in the gaps, since the books arenât specifically meant for individuals interested in taking the JLPT.
For outside/online resources to help fill in the gaps, the most popular ones are probably:
- kanji: Wanikani (welcome!)
- Grammar: Bunpro (already divided into the JLPT levels!) or Tae Kim (free!)
- Listening: NHK easy news (free!), anime, TV, Shadowing textbook
- Reading: NHK easy news, manga, childrenâs books, practice passages online
And if youâre feeling weak in one of those areas, you could buy a JLPT-specific book for it. Kanzen Master and Nihongo SĹ-Matome seem to be the most popular companies, and Iâve personally used the first for grammar and the second for vocab, and love them!
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I just took a JLPT practice test after doing 2 months of WK and the JLPT N5 section on Bunpro and got around 60%. I got almost 100% on vocab/kanji part and 50% on each of the grammar and listening parts. There were a few things that stood out to me taking it for the first time:
- You definitely need to practice reading or at least be familiar with the way questions are asked on the test. You donât want to spend a lot of time reading the instructions.
- I found it much harder to read without Kanji using just WK for vocab. ăă¨ă° vs č¨č for example.
- The nuances of meaning can only really be learned through exposure. Several times I knew what parts of each sentence meant, but the whole meaning would sometimes escape me. I think I could easily fix this with more native reading and listening.
- On the listening part, you really need to put a lot of work into listening to native speakers.
Overall, WK and BP are a good start and you should definitely take a practice test after 2 months, assuming youâre able to get to at least WK level 10 and finish all the N5 items on BP. That will give you a good idea of the parts that you need to focus on over the next 4 months.
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Last year I tried the JlPT N5. I was at wk lvl 6 and had no problems with the kanji part. I failed, thanks to my lack of grammar knowledge and bad preparation for the listening partđ this year I will do it better
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