That was a great experience. Going to a campus, see a lot of people sharing the same interest. Most of them were young, and some of them (like me) not so young.
I miss my student days (a veeery long time ago ).
The test itself was quite easy, I think I didn’t mess up. I was afraid of listening (sometimes it is like guessing,
and if you miss a few words you can easily be lost), but it went quite well.
I am now thinking of taking N4 for December, but I don’t have the level yet (I know maybe a little bit more than half of N4 grammar), and I think from N4 you really have to study for the exam.
For N5 I didn’t study anything specifically, just a few mock tests, but for N4 I would need to study more seriously.
I won’t be able to do the JLPT until July next year as both the July and December exam for this year have been cancelled at my venue of choice. Reading about everyone else’s experience from last week’s exam is getting me motivated for taking the N3. As stressful as it was when I first did the N5 back in December 2018. It was quite the learning experience leaving there knowing which areas I needed to focus on and then feeling the drive to work towards the next level once I received the news that I had passed. Gonna take a wild guess and say I will be posting on the JLPT 2022 thread about how much the listening section kicked my 尻.
I took N2 in Okinawa on Sunday. I felt much more unsure about how I did than I did after I finished taking N3. I feel like I just did average in all the sections. Hopefully I am average enough to pass.
Definitely going to take it in December. I just sat for N2 last Sunday and it did not go well, but I expected not to do well since I had very little time to study. There was a lot of vocab and kanji that I didn’t know, so hopefully by December I’ll be better prepared. Good luck to all of us! Slow and steady win the race, there’s still ~5 months to go so let’s keep at it.
Hey! Yeah, I’d passed N2 last year. I wanted to try the N1 as soon as possible and get a feel of it. If I pass though it’d only be God’s blessing. I didn’t manage my resources and studying very well. All the faults that came up during my practice tests played out last Sunday
My study was a combo of stuff I saw on threads here, there and many places. I can’t say everything cause
Used SKM dokkai and grammar, read newspaper and did practice questions with tutor and Japanese friend. For grammar I didn’t understand I got newspaper excerpts containing those points and went over them. I didn’t study vocab much cause I was too focused on reading and listening (YouTube and podcasts) Plus I didn’t expect to see any vocab I studied on the test cause any dice could roll (the field is so wide out there )
I did read novels but only one was specifically for learning cause I read that it was a difficult book. I dove into difficult things, frustrated myself…maso- I don’t wanna use that word but I think you understand
Wow, congrats on passing N2!
Knowing that you followed a similar study path, managed to pass N2 and now even attempt N1 makes me feel a lot better about the daily study grind.
I’m just about to start level J now. Progress is slow, because I really needed a few breaks along the way…
Now I’m trying to make my way through wanikani and read novels while still doing the worksheets, but it’s so hard to balance everything.
Thanks for sharing your resources! Sounds like SKM and newspapers will be a good way forward for future JLPT attempts.
go at it! But go at a reasonable pace. I couldn’t balance Kumon kokugo, JLPT and reading other stuff last year so I’d quit I was tryna go too fast. Soak up all that knowledge and rest when you need to. It’s understandable and you wanna keep that motivation going Novels have become a nice break from hardcore study for me if even a few pages. Rooting for you
Huh, I was thinking of maybe taking N3 or N2 in Duesseldorf in December…guess that choice has been made for me But N2 would definitely be a challenge, so I’ll take some time to think it over before actually signing up and hope there’ll still be some open places when I’ve made up my mind
Hopefully, this time it’s gonna work out. In summer 2020 I had booked the train tickets etc (I even got a Bahncard for that summer which I, surprise, ended up not using at all), and then the test got canceled. In the winter, it seemed too risky for me to book it with the rising numbers and corona regulations (I live in Bavaria, so I need to travel across states). Then summer 2021 I missed signing up because all spots were taken so fast. Hopefully, I’m a little bit more lucky this time
I think so! It was more skill building than anything else so not something you really forget. My scores on mock tests before and on the book’s mock test after showed a big improvement . I believe I did well on reading in the real test too but I can’t say that for sure until results day lol
Just sent my registration for N2 in December, wohoo!
The registration form is cute and expectedly old-fashioned.
For “Institution where you are studying Japanese”, should i put Wanikani+Bunpro? Or just “The Internet”?
(i actually put University of Vienna there in case they’ll reject an empty field. I did sit in a few Japanology lectures )
The Viennese sort-of “community college” doing the test instructed me (by mail, not on the webpage) to not print out the registration and add my signature manually, just to fill out the form. So i guess it needs no signature, since the signature field isn’t digitally editable either (you’d need a program to pencil-annotate over it). Fine with me, haha.
Also, one of the mailing address fields only has “Country/Area”, not city + country, so i just put both there (the other field has both)
edit: i spelled my name wrong in a separate form to the viennese institute, lol. I’m just glad it was not the main JLPT form, unnoticed. Always good to double check the application!
I worked my way through a past N2 exam today and I scored above 50% on all sections so…N2 here I come On the one hand I’m really excited for it, on the other hand impostor syndrome is hitting me hard because I still can’t actually speak the language and N2 sounds way more advanced than I actually feel because of that. Then again, it’s not my fault the JLPT isn’t testing language production
To those who have taken the JLPT in Duesseldorf before: According to what I found online, some test sites print your photo on the certficate while others don’t. How about Duesseldorf? In my most recent passport photo I have bright blue hair, so if they do I might want to send in an older picture in case I ever use my certificate for any job applications…
In Düsseldorf they don‘t print any photos on the certificate. In fact the certificate is issued in Japan and I think it’s the same for everybody worldwide…
You need to add your photo to the test voucher, though, but they are not fussy if it doesn’t match your current look too well…
Oh that’s interesting, I’ve never heard about that! I’ve taken JLPT in Germany (Düsseldorf and Stuttgart) and in Australia, so far, and they all looked the same (large sheet of paper, no picture). Maybe it’s a difference between Japan and not-Japan then…
Yeah, I also didn’t hear about it until I got it in the mail… At first I thought that it’s just a notice that I passed and they will send me the real thing later, then I realized it does say Certificate on it.
I also think this is Japan vs. overseas.
).
Plus I didn’t expect to see any vocab I studied on the test cause any dice could roll 
)
go at it! But go at a reasonable pace. I couldn’t balance Kumon kokugo, JLPT and reading other stuff last year so I’d quit 
I was tryna go too fast. Soak up all that knowledge and rest when you need to. It’s understandable and you wanna keep that motivation going 
Novels have become a nice break from hardcore study for me if even a few pages. Rooting for you 
which means I will take N2 in December 
. I believe I did well on reading in the real test too but I can’t say that for sure until results day lol
(the other field has both)
On the one hand I’m really excited for it, on the other hand impostor syndrome is hitting me hard because I still can’t actually speak the language and N2 sounds way more advanced than I actually feel because of that. Then again, it’s not my fault the JLPT isn’t testing language production 