So, I’ve been studying Japanese for three years now at school, and two months ago, I finally left for exchange! I’m here until the end of January 2026 and it’s actually A DREAM !!
Back to the topic, anyways. I wanted to take the n5 next month as a study goal, as school here is incredibly boring and I don’t understand enough to be able to participate. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that registration closed months ago and I’m too late…
So, my new goal is n4 next June and then n3 next December, before taking a break to finish high school. I’ve done practice JLPT n5 exams and read all the lists, and I’m pretty sure I know all of the content from n5. I believe I can get to n4 before I leave Japan, as I have pretty much 6 hours of study every day during lessons.
My question is, is it realistic to reach n3 in the specified time period (13 months)? I’m currently at WaniKani level three but am also using JLPTstudy.net’s study list, so I can write about 200 kanji. Currently im trying to catch up WaniKani to my actual level. I’m also working through the Anki core 2000 vocab list. My grammar is of a high level because every time I hear a new structure I learn it, which is a bit haphazard but works.
It’s also important to note because I’ve been living in Japan my understanding and speaking are a higher level than my core, exam-style skills and knowledge.
Welcome to the forums! I hope you have a wonderful time here with our community
I’m glad you’re having a great time! When you mention January I’m assuming because of this…
your exchange is for a year? I know in Japan the JLPT is offered twice a year, December and July but if you return to your home country the availability might be less frequent. The applications also start pretty quickly, I would say the July applications open around March/April and the December applications open around September/October.
In my experience, when I was learning Japanese at University, N3 was do-able with prior knowledge of Genki 1 and 2 and then Tobira textbooks, plus some outside studying to get down extra vocabulary and grammar that might not have been taught officially. The JLPT is also a very particular style of test. It is important to prepare to take the test in the JLPT style. I had a hard time with my N3 pass because I took it first after 5 years of study, and 2 years living in Japan because I was not prepared for the way that it went through questions at all. I passed that time, but it really threw me for a loop.
Using what you’ve written here, I would say N3 level would have enough knowledge to participate in more engaged discussions, maybe not perfect, but have enough knowledge to take part in the current lessons you’re learning. In my country, a N3 certificate of proficiency means that you could teach Japanese as a second language. So that’s the “power-level scale” if you will If you think that’s something do-able for you in these 13 months, then I say go for it. It’s your money, if you put in the effort you could probably crank it out in that amount of time. You could also skip N4 and go straight for N3 to save money and time, but that’s really on you.
EDIT to remove bad info but you could be an assistant Japanese teacher with that cert in some states apparently
I think the number of hours indicated in the link below, are a good guideline.
N3 is a big step-up from N4 and in my experience, it required focused study whereas N5 and N4 just needed a bit of study.
It’s doable in a year if you put in the focus hours…
To clarify, I’m in Japan until the end of January 2026, and then I return to Australia. They run the JLPT exams twice a year in Sydney, so that’s alright.
In regard to lessons, if I tried really hard for a day, I could probably understand about 20% of lessons, but all of them are on hyper-specific subjects and my teachers speak particularly fast. Im particularly quick at picking up things, so I think working towards it is doable. Important to remember I can always retry too!
It’s not impossible, but would require an incredible amount of dedication and resilience to things like burnout and wavering motivation. I got N3 in 2 years (?) and if I knew what I was doing when starting, maybe I could have done it in a year. All that being said, passing a test != fluency or ability in Japanese, it just means you passed a test.
my thought is that n4 is something clearly reachable right now, so if I aim for that once im confident I can start studying n3. With the amount of time I have here to study, I think I can finish n4 im about two months, just before I leave.
I also know that my spoken Japanese, y’know, the actual language is probably about n3 right now, I just have knowledge gaps that I need for a test.
that’s what I thought !!! I was slightly worried when I read this haha
It’s definitely possible (but requires lots of time and consistency). You have the advantage of a Japanese school environment and being better at some areas already, which makes it a lot easier to fill in gaps and have things to associate content with, rather than learning material from scratch. Plus it sounds like currently you have plenty of time and motivation. I’d say the important bit is to make the most of the time/exposure you get while you’re still in Japan, because it might be harder to fit in the necessary amount of time for studying after you get back if you’re managing it alongside other studies etc
My bad, I heard this from a friend, never double checked it, but it’s enough to be an assistant Japanese teacher but you’d still need a license etc for everything.
I see Coto Academy have some useful guides per JLPT level along with advertising their courses and material:
(Just edit “n4” → “n3” etc. in the URL to get to the other ones.)
It’s great that you can write ~200 Kanji and even better that you’ve progressed with speaking and listening. JLPT doesn’t test writing or speaking.
I think it is still useful to provide a tangible goal, and a structure and curriculum so that you learn easier more common stuff first.
Hi! Happy to hear you’re on an exchange and enjoying it.
I’ll be honest, I think from N4 to N3 in the same year is a really, really high target. It’s only achieveable, imo, if you are technically already near N3 level but is just taking N4 for the certification, or passed N4 with almost max scores at least. If you’re living in Japan full time during that time, it might be possible due to the intensity of language absorption that you can get. But outside of Japan, it’ll be quite tough.
However, I’m not saying it’s impossible especially if you are studying full time. My advice is probably, to aim for as much as possible and then take the N4 first. After that, you can adjust your target and expectations. If you pass, you can go for N3 and then see if you can make it. Even if you don’t pass, you’ll get an assessment of your abilities and be able to improve from there. Best of luck!
I think you guys overestimate the difficulty of N3. If you go at a strong pace, it is definitely possible. I went to Japan with not even Minna No Nihongo Shokyuu 2 (mostly self study) finished. Went 3 months to a language school and started studying N3 Material, solidified that knowledge for another 2 months and did some self study. Afterward, I passed the N3 pretty comfortably in July.
Listening shouldn’t be a problem with living in Japan, and reading is not that hard yet in N3. All the grammar (except maybe Keigo) is super common and can be seen all the time. The amount of Kanji is totally manageable in ~6 Months.
It all depends on how much time one puts into it, for sure. After the 3 months of full-time language school + homework, I was mentally pretty drained.
But I think it is totally possible to go from a strong N5 to an N3 in a year.
Yes, I think I would agree with this: if you have the time and motivation and especially if you’re focusing on this specific goal it’s totally possible.
On the “focus on this specific goal” point: I think it’s worth remembering that the JLPT is not an all round test of Japanese skills – notably it does not test speaking at all. You might want to think about whether there are aspects of language learning you might want to focus on that take advantage of the fact that you’re in Japan right now and the opportunities that brings, even if they’re not always super relevant to JLPT N3. You can always study the more test focused stuff later.
Well, it is difficult for me seeing as I haven’t passed N3 lol. However, I do admit that I have a much more lax “study” routine than some people here and I am lagging behind in kanji. I made the comment keeping in mind that for better or worse, sometimes people aimed too high too fast and then get disappointed so it’s better to take it step by step and have realistic expectations. I agree that living in Japan will expedite your language learning to near-N3 levels quite fast, especially if you’re doing it for the sake of language learning, but the OP will not be in Japan in the whole time, just until their exchange ends which is late January 2026.
