I’m not 100% sure but my spread was 40% vocab and grammar, 55% reading and 88% listening. Depending on the weighting i think i got over 19 points in language knowledge, but im not sure if the other sections will make up for it. Some janky calculators put me at a 140/180 (literally no way) a 110/180 (one can hope) and a 95/180 (what I’ve acquiesced to).
For some that was really true. I remember posting about the ～つ～つ grammar form on hellotalk and my first comment from a Japanese person was “that does not exist.” Then when I made a post practicing using ～きらいがある and asking a question about it (“can you use this to talk about yourself?”) half the comments from native speakers were like “here’s what 嫌い means!” while the other half knew what it was about. Some N1 grammar I’ve found to be really useful to know though like ～極まりない or ～あっての
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It’s certainly a mixed bag. This is the first time I took a JLPT and didn’t feel like my credibility was on the line lol Which is why I wanna take the N2 again because I passed N3, and I know I could pass the N2 (which is why I picked N1 in the first place).
Well, if you ever took a peek at HelloTalk comments people make about your own native language (German, in my case, but I assume it’s similar for English), some people are just bad at their own language. The advice I see people give there is horrendous sometimes and often just plain wrong. Especially if the learner in question is at a higher level, grammar gets less common and less native speakers will even know that this is the correct way their language functions.
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This is very true.
Im not sure I’ve actually seen the two grammar points listed outside of example sentences so I’m sure they are pretty rare to be fair. There are things that I do see every now and then that some natives don’t know though. And there’s some natives I don’t ask questions to anymore because I know they try to answer questions (seemingly out of genuine desire to help) that they clearly have no idea about rather than just saying they don’t know.
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This is Baader-Meinhof at its finest, but I just heard きらいがある in a podcast. Which is spoken language 
Spotify at 26:00
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Some thoughts/reflections on the Dec 2023 N1 (may help someone at some stage!)
My situation going into the test
I’ve been studying Japanese pretty full-on since 2017. Passed N2 in Jul 2022 with an OK score (not great but didn’t just scrape by either). Was on WK Level 43 at the time. Reached WK Level 60 in April 2023 after a big push. Since then, I’ve been focusing on more “natural” vocab acquisition from reading, shows, and games.
In the 1-2 months leading up to the test, I spend loads of time on N1 grammar lists to try to fine-tune my knowledge, especially for grammar patterns that don’t come up much in normal material.
I mostly felt OK on the day and in the lead-up - like I could pass at least - though I’ve had a busy time with a new job and travel. This may have undermined me slightly to the tune of a few points. But not a complete deal breaker.
Reading
I usually start with the reading then go back to vocab & grammar. I don’t want to be too panicked with the longer questions, and I found this to be a good tactic for N2 last year.
It started out pretty smoothly. My comprehension was pretty good overall, though I did find that some of the answers were extremely similar so did need a bit of thought and re-reading excerpts to make a final decision.
Reading speed is critical for me and it is clearly still not good enough for N1. The passages were interesting and I could grasp most of the content (and was pleased with my general knowledge - thanks WK, games, and articles!) But I spent too much time here, which jeopardised my language knowledge (see below). I had thought my speed would be better, as since passing N2 I’ve done a lot more gaming with dialogue (e.g. Persona, Yakuza, Ookami) and read through a couple of light novels. Plus in the summer, I completed all questions of a practice N1 within the time (getting a pass score). I guess I need to do more focused reading drills or something.
Somehow I managed to miss the fact that Question 7 was a reading question, so I ended up having to rush/guess that one at the very end, as I started from Question 8. Do check your papers carefully and remember that the reading usually (I assume?) starts from Question 7 and not 8!
Vocab/grammar
The first set of questions on kanji were fine. I then started to feel time pressure (as I’d spent too long on reading) but kept working through methodically and felt OK.
One tip for the “correct usage” vocab section - if you are short on time - is just to scan the preceding words. Usually you can infer the correct answer from that, i.e. does the vocab typically apply to a thing, a person, a situation? Context is key at N1 level so I’d advise not just learning the basic meanings of vocab, but how they are used + example sentences. Most vocab and grammar is actually pretty specific and the better you understand it the more you’ll see there’s only one good answer.
Grammar was not good. I feel like a lot of the N1-specific grammar from lists that I’d been revising incessantly - even making my own physical flashcards - just didn’t come up! Perhaps I tried to shortcut the grammar process too much, or there was a bit more grammar from lower levels than I expected?
Anyway, as I was nearing the time limit on grammar I also had to skim and guess a few questions at the end. Again, reading speed and the ability to scan and rationalise the text under pressure are so important in the JLPT.
Listening
Listening is typically my strong suit. I listen to podcasts all the time, and watch my fair share of shows/anime.
It felt harder than I’d hoped, but I think I still got a decent score. It will be my best section for sure. At the beginning I had to keep myself from being annoyed at the first part of the test and thinking I’d failed anyway - it sounds a bit silly, but I tried to close my eyes, regulate my breathing, etc. which helped. Also, closing my eyes on some listening questions helped me to focus.
I’ve never been a note taker for the listening questions, but I would strongly recommend that everyone take some basic notes at least for the final listening question. The information presented is long and waffley: by the time you hear the couple debating on which option to go for, you will forget some of the info. The question was about pears, when they ripen, and how they taste. I thought I was clever noting down the months for reference and thought I’d just remember the rest, but I missed some key info about how they tasted. Pretty annoying.
Well done everyone who took the test, and even if it’s not a pass it should be a highly useful learning experience!
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お疲れ様です！
For that one in particular a great tip I got was to immediately draw a giant plus sign and take notes for each item in each quadrant. For me though all I could write was the month and a one word detail for each like お正月 and さっぱり. I was lucky that they happened to pop up in the following dialogue because there were plenty of details I missed too.
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What kind of calculators did you use?
I believe that as the jlpt scoring algorithm is not made public it is impossible for us to know the result in advance.
I am also scared that a lot of people could cheat because of the leak, thus decreasing the probability to pass for people who did not cheat.
Btw people around me after the test ended did seem to think that the test was difficult.
I thought the same, especially for the listening part where I often had to guess between 2 answers.
But in the end it did not seem to go that bad :
- listening: minimum 24/30 (+ 2 questions where I do not remember my answer)
- kanji/vocab : min 14/25 (+ 6 questions where I don’t remember)
- grammar: min 12/19 (+ 1 question where I don’t remember)
- reading: min 18/22 (+1 where I don’t remember)
When I say that I don’t remember it’s because I hesitated between 2 answers (including the good one) and I don’t remember which one I picked.
I often fail the same section (IE for the listening I got no points in the last exercise, where I smartly forgot to take notes. Dumb move).
Second and fourth sections of the vocab/kanji did not go well. Same for the first section of the grammar.
And you guys where did you fail/succeed the most?
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That is smart! I will do that if I have to retake the test
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I used some janky chinese and vietnamese calculators for a ballpark estimate knowing full well they aren’t super accurate.
I hadn’t even thought of the prospect of the cheating skewing results 
but it looked like the leaks were a yearly occurrence.
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By the way do you remember which subsection you succeeded/failed the most?
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Listening i only missed 2-3 to my knowledge. Vocab and grammar was more of a 50% thing. Overall got over half the total questions right so it might be enough to scrape out a pass.
All conjecture really. But statistically every year 30-35% of people pass. The official jlpt website shows an example score report with 120/180 being in the 88th percentile, i.e. top 12%. Because of how curves tend to work, i figure getting over 50% right will skew me at least over the 65th percentile.
But that’s just what I tell myself to sleep at night. In the end I’ll just take it again if I need to. The day after the test
My motivation to study was GONE. But here a week later and i still study just for the joy of studying.
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Actually when I passed N3 and N2 I always had a good surprise when the results came, with a score way higher than I expected.
So I hope that 55% of right answers will be enough for N1 ( as it is not 99 points but 100 this time).
In the old test with raw scores it is said that 70% of right answers were needed to pass. But I have absolutely no idea if this information is right or not.
Do people who succeeded N1 in the past have an idea of their raw score?
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Updating this to record expectations vs. reality.
I failed by 2 points overall. Comfortable sectional pass marks on everything - very surprised I got through grammar and vocab with room to spare.
My reading surpassed my listening in the end, which is mad. Disappointed in my listening score (37), which should normally have carried me through. I had an off day there: previous JLPTs were high 40s and in N1 practice tests I almost got full marks. It does feel like the JLPT questions are designed to be unnatural, waffley, and catch you out, but probably sour grapes on my part.
If I had a better reading speed I might have been happier with the first section and therefore more chilled/optimistic/fresher in the listening, so there’s always that to consider too.
I certainly wouldn’t have rested on scraping by the N1, but it would be nice to just be done with it and focus on other areas (like speaking!). Not sure if I’ll retake or even have the capacity to do so now with life, etc.
Anyway, my main advice now is to expect the unexpected! If you think you have one section sewn up, there’s always more you can improve. And the questions on the day might simply not fall for you. I’d say there’s an element of luck unless you’re close to native level.
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I took the N1 in July. I didn’t calculate my raw score super precisely, but I did look at some leaked answers after I took the test. Based on that, I got about 50% of the questions on grammar knowledge correct and ended up getting 27/60. I got 4 questions wrong (so 22/26 correct?) on reading and got 54/60. I didn’t check listening, but I got 44/60, and 73% correct feels rightish. So I feel like overall, raw scores and actual scores usually aren’t too different
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I failed by 1 point 
I’ll have one more attempt this summer before grad school starts in the fall, so I am looking forward to smashing the N1 in July.
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Sorry to hear that but glad you’re optimistic for the next one! Best of luck
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The list of resources at the top of the thread has been updated - if you have recommendations regarding further resources to add, please suggest them
The 2024 JLPT exam dates are:
July 7, 2024
December 1, 2024
Please locate your home test center for more registration information.
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I agree on the questions being unnatural. I can usually read the JLPT texts just fine but then I have no idea what the question is about or the difference in nuances of the possible answers catch me off guard.
Listening is really hard for me too. I’m neurodivergent and have a bad short term memory, so I basically have no chance with the tasks where we get the possible answers only after the dialogue. By the time they read the options I have no idea what the dialogue was about 
I gave up on the JLPT for now and will try again after an extended stay in Japan - if that ever happens.
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