I had my first JLPT test this Sunday, was at WaniKani level 12 and took the JLPT N5.
I knew almost all kanji, which was a big motivation boost to go for N4 or N3 in July!
I think the only one where I had to guess was the kanji for English, where I didn’t know if it was 英 (this is WK level 15) or 央. But since 央 is “center”, I guessed 英 then and luckily was right.
I know about the chart over at wkstats.com, but I’d like to hear about your experiences, e.g. which level would be “good enough” for the Kanji section of an N3 or N2 test.
Sounds like you did well at your JLPT, good job!
While I can’t answer your question from personal experience (never took the JLPT), I can recommend you to read this thread JLPT 2024! from the beginning.
You will find plenty of people who took the JLPT in July who discussed their results as well as at the end of the thread people that share their stories from taking the JLPT last week (though they don’t have results yet).
I feel like what I’ve seen the most for N3 is that the kanji knowledge is not a problem but most have trouble with the listening part. Grammar can be a problem too and reading speed.
So don’t forget for your studies that Japanese is not kanji only!
I’m level 21, I took N3. It went okay.
Kanji was fine, but I’ve studied outside of it so some common words with kanji I haven’t hit yet I knew, vocab was largely fine. Reading was middling. Listening was… well, if I fail it’s for that reason, and I think I will fail.
But, honestly, it went exactly as I expected. Good Kanji, Okay Reading, Bad Listening. I learned a lot studying for it, and it was a good experience. It definitely helps that I don’t really need to pass for any reason, but I think I can easily pass next time. For pride. For vanity.
I just took N3 and I have been done with WaniKani for a while, I would say the Kanji was not a problem but the very similar looking kanji as well as the random words that wanikani does not teach you that use familiar kanji were slightly difficult for me. Id say to make sure you have a solid base of N2 kanji before taking the N3 if you want maximum marks bc theyre known to use stuff outside the typical levels as theres no official list.
that being said though, wanikani doesnt really prepare you for any other sections of the test, and I took some practice N2 Kanji questions and got them all right, so you should probably be able to do that at least at the end. One thing to note is that the “Kanji section” is not just kanji and its also vocabulary and what context they are used in
i am level 27 (and have been for a long while - I have kept up with reviews but not added new stuff for the last 8 weeks since I started working on my N5 study cram) - I also took the N5 and I know the kanji you are thinking of
first off I think I did ok on grammar and reading and vocab but in the days leading up doing practice exams, I realized I spent too much time on wanikani with kanji vocabulary and not enough memorizing it in the hiragana so I did my best but it got a little loose – To compound the program i sync’d wanikani with bunpro so the kind of hiragana review I could have gotten I just got passed on because it automatically ranks the vocab as expert if you have it high up here.
For example if I had seen the kanji for Garden (庭) I’d have spotted it but instead I spent a couple minuteｓ unsuccessfully remembering にわ but in the end I think I got that question right - another one is to forget something - 忘れる I remember but わすれる took a few times to remember - things like that where i have too much visual recognition and not word recognition
listening is going to kill me - if I fail I think that is why - I am through Genki 1 and Bunpro N5 but I clearly haven’t got listening processing down enough because I felt lost every question except some of the greetings questions.
but I only need 33% - can almost guess 33% if you select the same thing - we’ll see
anyways whether I pass or fail I want to angle for N4 next December
Finally at the risk of blowing up my secret super spot, if you have an excuse to go to Honolulu, I was able to get a place cheap near the university, the tests were very well run, and I heard all my questions and I didn’t have a single negative experience as far as that goes except Lyft bailing on me and I had to powerwalk 45 minute to get there and I still had 30 minutes before registration and that was due to a downtown parade-
