They have a table for that:
N3 should be not problem
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Thanks. Now I just have to dive into the SKM books.
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It’s even in the OP!
Note that those are the old JLPT levels though
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Well, I would say if you’re over 200 you should not have an issue with passing N3, though that doesn’t mean you’ll ace it.
I just wanted to make sure people didn’t read it the wrong way
True, I guess maybe there are people who don’t know that Level 3 is not N3.
Already saw the answer to my question, haha
I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this.
It makes sense that my vocabulary is the weakest; I’ve never really focused on it.
But I’ve never focused on listening, and haven’t even attempted a conversation with a native since—well, ever, that I can recall, longer than two sentences. I’ve done some of the Genki exercises, but that’s it. (Still, I did have some idea of what I was doing on a number of the questions, even if I was far from understanding everything.)
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My result got a lot worse since the last time I took it… Slacking so much really did its thing… damn. I’ll try to use this as motivation rather than being depressed about it haha…haaaah…
Beginning 2017
Now
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First time
Second time
Third time
Honestly no clue what’s going on with grammar, because I felt fine while doing it. I’m certain that I haven’t reverted to N3 level in grammar. That section has fairly few questions though, so I wonder how much impact a mistake makes. If you miss something early, is it hard to reach the higher branches of the tree in time.
Also, I noticed that it gets really hard to keep my motivation up for this test near the end, since it’s the most meaningless of all of them.
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Interesting point about the grammar!
I just resat the J-CAT and it felt easier than last time. I could read more, and quicker than last time - definitely the WK effect showing there. But my grammar score halved and I have no idea why. I didn’t feel that the questions were particularly difficult, and I was happy with most of my answers in that section.
And my overall score was down as a result… 
January 2018
July 2018
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The grammar section is short and rushed, and probably the section with the most random answers, while the reading section is much longer. I would weight the reading section the most and almost ignore the grammar score. And you have a whooping 11 point improvement in reading, so there’s a definite improvement!
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August 2017 (2nd attempt)
July 2018 (3rd attempt)
I took the j-cat for the third time today. The first time, I rage quit. There was a problem with java or something, I think. I couldn’t get the resolution right, so I couldn’t read anything. Plus the test froze all the time.
So the 2nd time was my first real attempt. According to the results, I have improved. And I do feel that way myself. But at the same time I feel like I was only better att guessing the right answer and the next j-cat can go either way.
The biggest hurdle is time. If I had all the time I needed to carefully read the question (and maybe a just a little time to think afterwards) then I would have performed a lot better, I think. I’m a slow reader in my native language, so I don’t think I will become a speed reader in japanese anytime soon.
As for the listening section, I suppose it’s always going to be in conversational speed, so I got no excuses there.
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This is free in the sense that you don’t have to pay to take the test.
But it’s not free in the sense that you have to install Adobe Flash which is obsolete technology riddled with bugs and bad performance and security holes.
Wait until they release the HTML5 version.
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Are they planning to?
Yes, see this post two weeks ago
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I hope so. But even if they’re not, they will be forced to do it in the future because more and more browsers drop Flash support. Unfortunately, that future could be tomorrow or in 10 years. Old software die hard. There are still around 7% of computers running Windows XP today, even higher than Linux (around 2%).
They will change a bit before Adobe retires it (see the post above yours).
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Ah yes, I missed that post. I think I’d be willing to pay more than 3000 JPY for a subscription (not just one-time).
Took it. It just confirmed what JLPT N2 told me last year. My listening and vocabulary skills are fine but my grammar and reading are still pretty bad.