When the JLPT somehow turns into a group project.
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Finished (making) the Grammar deck I have been working on x_x (still have 3 or 4 days until I finish learning).
I still have 6 weeks of Soumatome’s vocab to make, but it’s much less painful process.
I just wanted to finish since i wasn’t gonna have another chance to do it this weekend.
The grammar cards are really fun to get through, and my vocab cards are simple, but effective. I am remember the words meanings instantly, but I have a lot to get through. I am trying to get about a 2 week headstart before doing the Soumatome vocab book (should finish about 2 or 3 weeks before the test).
I’m thinking of making more grammar cards that give me hints to which particles or structures to look out for. I have the 文法スピードマスター book, so I could use sentences from that.
When it comes to 読解 do you guys just kind of get through it in a few sessions or do you go slowly? I feel like I should go faster with it and do it closer to the test because it’s more strategy than it is knowledge, and would probably be better once I have the vocab from Soumatome down.
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Just posting here to remind myself I need to dab on the haters and pass this thing.
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I finished the SKM N1 文法 book so I decided it’s time to take another mock test. I did manage to get a better score on this one but not by much. Overall I got 86.9%. I improved in the grammar and reading section, got the exact same amount of points in vocab which is still my weakest section, and somehow managed to do a good amount worse in listening. I think that was due partly to the listening section on this practice test feeling more difficult than the last and partly to me zoning out a few times. From now until the test I’m going to continue trying to get in a lot of reading and listening practice and I think I’ll also pick up anki to work on vocab more since that’s consistently where I score lower. I got the email with the test site info a few days ago and it’s made it feel more real that there isn’t much time left now 
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i was prepping in such a casual way until i got the test site email 
the days have really sped by already!
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I’m still keeping my study consistent but I am starting fall behind. I got the 500問 book for the last 4 weeks leading up to the test. Listening is just not something I am worried about at all. I always pass. But the reading section… I am SO worried about that section and I really can’t find the time or energy to do the 読解 book on top of the vocab and grammar books. I might possibly be able to do it in the last couple weeks leading up to the test and just do them as mock tests. The method to how to pass these things seems straight forward enough, I am just not good at following through with it.
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Hi everyone, my study books (新完全マスター・読解 and スピードマスター・文法）finally came in the mail yesterday so even though it’s quite late I’m starting the grind now 
I liked the approach described in this video since it reminded me a lot of how I tackled exams in college. I’m surprised at how strictly formulaic the test is – I never noticed that the last time I took the JLPT (N3 in 2019).
The first step was adding all the grammar from a 日本語の森 video that covered “all” the N1 grammar (there’s definitely more but it was a good start) to an Anki deck a month or two ago and reviewing that daily
I took a past test back in April and analyzing that now it looks like my weakest parts are the long passage and comparison sections, which are right next to each other.
Studying for this test was genuinely fun to me last time so I’m looking forward to this.
Personal breakdown of performance on a past N1 test, taken in April 2023
| Problem Number → Question Type | Percentage score |
|---|---|
| 10. Comprehension (Long passages) |
0 |
| 11. Comparison | 0 |
| 7. Text grammar | 40 |
| 5. Sentential grammar 1 (Selecting grammar form) |
50 |
| 13. Information retrieval | 50 |
| Task-based comprehension | 50 |
| Comprehension of general outline | 50 |
| Integrated comprehension | 50 |
| Comprehension of key points | 57.14285714 |
| 1. Kanji reading | 66.66666667 |
| 3. Paraphrases | 66.66666667 |
| 4. Usage | 66.66666667 |
| 12. Thematic comprehension (Long passages) |
75 |
| Section total | 76 |
| 9. Comprehension (Mid-length passages) |
77.77777778 |
| Quick response | 78.57142857 |
| 6. Sentential grammar 2 (Sentence composition) |
80 |
| 2. Contextually-defined expressions | 100 |
| 8. Comprehension (Short passages) |
100 |
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in the video the way he tracks the composition details of his mock tests is actually so brilliant 
i wish i had seen this three months ago… but i will definitely use it for next year’s test lol. thanks for posting it!
good luck on the exam!!
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So you’re saying I have a chance?! (Result from doing the listening section for the July 2022 test)
Listening I’ve been feeling the most nervous about, but this gives me a dose of confidence.
Hopefully the sound quality is good at the test site. It’s probably harder than being able to hear it directly from your phone speaker.
The other problem is less a language thing and more an issue of having a hard time concentrating on (imo) boring conversations
Gonna be listening to a lot of NHKらじる〜らじる to prep for this as well
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We’re a week out from the test already 
I’ve been going hard with the study books, logging new grammar forms in my Anki deck, and reviewing every day. In the Speed Master grammar book, I’m at the F-section of new grammar points. (For reference the grammar points are split up into seven sections, going from Section A to Section G). I should be finishing up the introduction of new grammar by Monday (11/27).
In the Kanzen Master book for reading passages, I finished the first half of the book (評論・解説・エッセイなど）and will be starting the second half （広告・お知らせ・説明書きなど）tonight. At my current pace I should be done with that half by Tuesday (11/28). After that is just lots of practice.
I also have an app that claims to have full listening sections for every JLPT from 2000 up to July 2022. I’m curious where the maker got these from if official past tests haven’t been released. I did the “July 2017” practice test and got the same score as last time (29/35).
Today I took the official sample test from 2012.
Even though it’s the part I’ve felt most anxious about, listening seems to be my strongest section now – I got all the questions right for problems 1 and 2. I’m more comfortable with the formats of these. For problem 1, I take the time used explaining and going over the example question to go through the actual questions and box keywords for each answer option, which makes everything easier to process. I’ve noticed each answer option is presented in the audio in the order they’re written, which also makes it easier to handle.
I’m concerned since the difficulty of this practice test for the reading and grammar portions felt significantly higher than everything else I’ve been using (apps, books, etc). In the reading passages for Kanzen Master for instance I’ve been doing really well while keeping things speedy, and I was feeling ready to crush it on the test. But for some reason my brain just wasn’t braining on the reading passages on this practice test, and I bombed the sections for mid-length (5/9) and long (0/4) passages. So I’m going to pay attention to those next.
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The test’s in just a few days already. How’s everyone feeling?
I’ve more or less finished the Speed Master Grammar book. There’s one mock test left in there, and that’ll only take 20 minutes. As for the Kanzen Master Reading Comp book, I’m on the third part that’s just a lot of practice questions for mid-length and long-length passages.
It’s a bit too late, but I realized vocabulary was a weak point for me a couple days ago after struggling through those sections on practice tests and just answering questions based on vibes, so I went through the N1 Sou-matome book for vocabulary and made flashcards for the words I didn’t recognize in Anki (about 200 total), and I’m doing 40 new ones a day. Not great, but it could end up paying off for a couple of questions.
Overall I’m about 50/50 on whether I can pass overall. It’s hard to tell because of the scoring scheme the JLPT uses, how nerves will factor in, etc. Time-wise I tend to do fairly well though. But more than the test itself, the logistics around getting to and from the test location are actually my biggest concern since it’s a place I’ve never been before (Philadelphia) and that’s gonna be a headache, thinking about how I’m gonna have enough to eat and focus, what the sound quality will be like with whatever speaker they choose for the listening section, etc.
Regardless of whether I pass or not, though, it’s been kinda fun putting my brain back into turbo study mode. All the stuff I’m reading for this has impacted the way I speak and write with people, and I feel linguistically dialed in in a way I haven’t since being in Japan. People say “nobody talks like this” when talking about N1 stuff but I’ve actually noticed a lot of things I learned in this short period are things my brain has kinda ignored in conversations and media. Plus being able to show off a little when speaking is fun (いやいや〇〇さんのうまい説明あっての理解だよ)
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I’ve taken a couple exams of various subjects in cities I’d never been to and my tactic has always been to show up heinously early, find out where everything is, and then get breakfast/lunch until I need to actually be there. I had an interview in Toronto once and all I knew about the area was that it’s a huge city lol so I showed up the night before and got a hotel room 
But in general, just assume that murphy’s law will apply and try to over-plan your timing. I’m just glad that the test isn’t bright and early!
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Hey yall, typing this as I wait for my train back to DC. The test went alright, I think. I didn’t ace it, but I don’t think I bombed it either. The 語彙 sections were a bit rough for me. For kanji I know I got 5/6 right (tricky tricky 率, that threw me off). I feel like I crushed it on grammar. Reading I felt pretty good about most of them, but a few were iffy for me, especially the one about keeping eggs warm. I was able to finish with 15-20 mins to spare.
For listening, I don’t feel great about that, I guessed a looot in the first section where I’d narrowed it down to two options, as well as the third section (the one where you hear a whole conversation then get your answer options, right before the quick response). But the quick response and long one I feel fairly good about. We’ll see.
How’d the test go for you all?
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The more I read the more I realize I failed. I am kind of over it in a different way. I responded by deleting all the English YouTube channels I am subscribed to and vowed to only consume Japanese from here on out. I am pretty tired from not feeling good enough and that test felt like I could have done better with more study prep (at a bearable pace).
Oddly a great motivator but I feel like **** regardless.
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I always respect this attitude. Life’s too short to sit around feeling sorry for yourself when you don’t meet your own expectations. It really feels like those who can use that deep dissatisfaction as fuel have such an advantage.
I’ve been using that fuel for the past 6 years of my Japanese study and man does it feel good lol
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It’s gnawing at me but I really think I failed. I got about 65% of the questions right overall only missing 2 listening but damn, that was kinda rough! Someone leaked the test online a few hours after the pencil dropped so I went back through and checked everything. But hey, still gonna practice, study and get better every day.
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Are you sure that’s a fail? I know the scoring system is different from raw scores, but if my understanding of item response theory is right the real score wouldn’t be too far off from the raw score, and you’d need ~55% to pass (unless you scored below 33% in one section).
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I didn’t know answer keys get leaked, especially so soon after the actual test, until this morning seeing there was a JLPT subreddit.
If my memory of my own answers is right, it looks like I got somewhere between 72% and 74% overall, depending on whether we go off pure number scores vs weighting each section equally (meaning giving for instance 問題１ and 問題５ the same “weight” despite having a different number of questions within them). My strongest section was reading (17/22→77%) while my weakest was language knowledge (30/44→68%). But… I’m not gonna count chickens before they hatch and say this means I passed, because weighting could change things and I could be misremembering my own answers.
I didn’t realize this was a thing either, until I saw someone sitting in front of me before the test reading the leaked passages on her phone and making notes lightly on the voucher paper I don’t think she had the answer keys, just the test itself, but still…
Fingers crossed that you truly did pass!! I need to look and see how I did, but I’m scared ahaha
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It’s different once your on the N1 side of things because literally every person I had help me with the test would say “Nobody uses this” (granted they are only talking about speaking in this regard, and they know of it so its not the worst thing in the world to also be aware of). If you failed and you wanna take the test again, just study for it again.
I got really into watching Japanese YouTube recently and am getting back on the reading wagon again. My plan is to go through one Soumatome book at a time starting from January and hopefully I will be ready for the test again in December. I might take the N2 for s***s and giggles in July to finally say I passed it.
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