Took Kanji Kentei 2 after only 3 years of JP Study, Heres my story

Japanese Language Kanji
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Hello Guys

A week ago on the 19th of October, I have officially attemped Kanji Kentei 2級 after starting from scratch from zero 3 years ago, And keep in mind, this was before I am going to be trying N1. (Only a few months prior)

Keep in mind JLPT is December and this test was October.

Yes there is another forum out there but I’m going to be talking about my personal study experience and to anyone else going to go on this project.

Overall Stats:

Mock tests: 50+ (Seperate ones)

Time Studied: 6-7 months (Start of april)

Most critical sections: 誤字訂正, 書き取り, 四字熟語

Estimated Real Test Score: 158-171 pts (pass)

Before that time, I took Kanji Kentei 3 times, passing the 4kyuu test. This is my 4th time taking this exam in a row. It’s a nice credential and flex. Something to take for fun rather than the JLPT. It’s also more literal so its easier too.

I started in April and for my Christmas present, I got kanji kentei practice book. I stored that until i finished j2k and then I grinded that. On the side I was doing a buncha reading and actual output in Japanese. (my mom or so is Japanese so i’m outputting to her a lot). I was mainly grinding kanken to get the credential I wanted, to learn new stuff and to also get a sense of achievement. Keep in mind I was juggling a lot of Japanese domains and not focusing on AJATT.

I went to Japan so I bought some more practice books for the Kanji Kentei. Mainly those flashcard or “red sheet” books. I will link them down.

I’ve spent the whole summer and most of the 1st quarter of my school year preparing for this and it’s gotten me pretty stressed but not to the point where i’ll be mad.

CRITICAL Sections:

誤字訂正: It’s there to throw you off, a 4/10 score on the real test. I messed up 3 of the kanjis, either by miswriting a small portion or writing a completely different kanji. This was a tough one for other people I know.

書き取り: It’s the most weighted test section and it weights 1/4 on your total score. My estimate is 42-44/50. The total score is 200 and the section is 50 points max.

四字熟語: 2 sections. I talked to one other passer of the 2kyuu and he said that this section takes a lot of time. For me took some memorization so it took a while. (28/30) (20/20), (8/10)

I THINK I will be on the GOOD side in terms of the graders. I know theres some leniency. Keep in mind that the graders seem to care more about legability, doesn’t have to be fully perfect and they will acknowledge some characters. You’ll likely be understood if your writing is easy to read and proper enough.

Tips:
-Studying beforehand a few months prior is better

-Be as neat as possible but don’t stress it.

-Take as many mock tests and use as much resources as possible.

-CHANGE YOUR HABITS: Bad habits will hurt you, I’m worried about 奉 because I wrote like the chinese font rather than the Japanese one. The difference was that for the 5th stroke it’s supposed to cross the bottom part of 三

I will be posting more updates but if you have any questions about my study definitely ask me.

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Recommended Sources to study for this test:

https://derujun-2kyu.com/ Most accurate third party site, it’s free so you can use it if you want, A LOT of the questions on the site actually were on the actual test. If you want to be effective use this site. Only con is that it doesn’t prepare you for all sections but it is so useful.

これでなっとく! 漢検 2級 クイックスタディ:

最新試験傾向に対応 漢字検定２級〔頻出度順〕問題集

And do AS MUCH mocks as possible.

kanken_kakomon - Google Drive Refer to the google drive. It’s VERY important to do as much seperate mock tests as possible, even though I did 50+ there were still a few suprise questions that appeared no times on the mocks

Speaking of mocks
13+13+2+2+5+1+13+14+3+3= 69 total seperate tests. This was frorm every single resource I had all together btw.

So yeah this was a lot and it took my energy but I’m glad I did this project and I was able to further appreciate kanji all together

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For those who are taking PBT test.

At my test site, there was maybe 3 other people, they all looked like adults to me. Keep in mind I was only a Senior in High School taking this so this was really at standard with the Japanese curicullum.

The lady behind me looked pretty prepared, but the man infront of me, after the test to his kids were like “yeahhhh no haha”.

I took this test overseas, keep in mind that one of these sites are open to the public and i’ve been able to take it 4 consecutive times. Procedures are different

*You aren’t allowed to bring your answer sheet home, they must be checked in and you get it back with your results,

* You’ll need to wait a little longer for the results since youre taking it overseas and I was in a group setting taking this so the online results did not work. About 5-7 weeks was the estimate

* No exam ticket, no procedure at my site. The proctors were lowky chill. We just took our test and went. They were super clear with everything.

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Hello everyone,

I managed to pass Kanji Kentei 2 with a score of 160 of 200 therefore capping off 7 month journey to glory.

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Anyone tried Kanken?
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This 7 month project involved a lot of hard on studying for kanken. There was no way I was able to clear it without studying everyday for a lot of hours. Plus I had to be consistent and move forward despite a bunch of setbacks.

Hard work ALWAYS pays off.

I thought my test score was going to be maybe around 170 but my real score was off by a few points but still in pass range.

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Congratulations to your pass and 合格証書. This definitely gets you a lot of bragging points. I don’t think I’ll ever sit the test.
Though thinking about it, I do enjoy the whole Kanji aspect of Japanese quite a bit by now :thinking:

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Thank you very much for seeing my story

Kanken seems to be more in the range of “who studies the most” instead of “who knows the most japanese” unlike JLPT.

HEAVY HEAVY memorization based test. I was a little bit intrigued with kanji before the test too so i was a little obsessed. Kanken is like a hobby, of course i did normal jp reading on the side but this was a hobby.