Wanikani July JLPT Community Event (aka Joint Mock JLPT on July 4th, home thread)

I realized I never actually wrote down what I do, when I started doing it. ^^"

So I am going through this anki deck for vocab. I deleted the N5, suspended most of N4, and studied 50-100 new words / day until I finished N3. (I went for recognition + recall as well.) I was familiar with most of the words but I really needed to refresh them.
Now that I’m at N2, I add 10-25 new words, and recall only. I’m not gonna finish until the mock exam, but hopefully will until December (when I’ll try the actual exam).

I’m also doing bunpro, I went through all the N5, N4 grammar, added those to my pile that I wasn’t 100% sure of that I know, and then I learn 10 new N3 grammar per day. Some I already know, some I never heard of (how I passed N3 2 years ago is beyond me), so in this aspect I’m sure I won’t be doing well at the mock exam.
I have 40 left from the N3 batch. I think I’ll learn only 5/day from the N2 batch.

Also, I read a lot. I read at least 1 hour a day. I don’t think there will be a problem with that part.

Listening: I’m not doing anything. I sometimes listen to a podcast on youtube. Around one time a week. Surely I need to do something about that.

If you wonder why I am struggling with N3 stuff when I passed in 2019: after the exam I literally didn’t study a word and positively avoided everything related to Japanese due to some personal trauma. I got back to it in August 2020 for around a month, and then nothing again. Then I joined the コンビニ人間 repeat book club when I aimlessly surfed the interwebz in January and gradually got back to it. I no longer feel the negative connotations thankfully.

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I’m in a bit of a rut.

I worked my way through Shin Kanzen Master N4 Bunpou and got through 1/3 of N3 Bunpou. It was definitely very useful and interesting, but it was really doing my head in as well. You get an answer key, but not a whole lot of explanation as to why particular answers are right or wrong. I just got fed up with the sleuthing after a few weeks. When I saw that the next chapter was going to be a keigo chapter that was the last straw lol.

Maybe I wanted too much too fast and I burned out a bit, I don’t know, but I feel very demotivated at the moment. I am frustrated that it feels like I am not getting much better; I feel disheartened about how. much. vocab. I will still need to know before I can read anywhere near as fluently as I would like (and don’t get me started on listening).

So I am thinking I am going to give up on explicit ‘study’ for a while and see if I can just do some Japanese (any Japanese!) for fun.

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Yeah, that’s on my to-do list as well. There’s absolutely no way I’ll pass this test (N2), but yolo lol. I’m mostly just curious to see where I’m at.

I absolutely recommend that. Sometimes our brains just need a break. I’ve definitely gone through it multiple times. You got this, just take some chill time and get back to it when you’re ready :slight_smile:

As for me, I’m trying to step up my game x’D New additions to my studies: I’m playing some Netflix in the background, doing passive listening, just to have it there. I’m writing sentences every day, and I’m participating in the Italki challenge going on right now. (Aiming for 16 hours there. Idk how some people can do so many hours for those, the leaderboards get ridiculous.)

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My % correct seems to be lower recently comparing to when I started studying specifically for JLPT :confused:

But recent chapters (both in grammar and listening) were also keigo chapters, so at least I can blame it on that!
Unfortunately, it’s hard for me to stop now, because I’m registered for the real July JLPT too and preferably I want to be finished with N3 textbooks after that.

Actually, I have a bit of a dilemma with keigo. Right now I’m concentrating on passive understanding of the language, because I’m learning it for novels and games anyway, not for conversations. But I want to pass N3 and then N2 someday too. With a nice score included (let’s say 75% at least).

And keigo isn’t holding me back when I’m reading books. With context, I’m able to decipher what’s being said without much problem.
But I’m totally useless when I’m answering keigo grammar exam questions. And I’m unable to hear it properly while doing listening exam questions, these forms are just too looooong and too compleeeex. :< (I’m bad with hearing human speech in my native language too. My hearing is ok, but I have problems with people speaking.)
So. For N3, I’ll concentrate on finishing textbooks I already bought before deadline, and give up about polishing keigo. But I’m wondering if I should give it up for N2 too, as long as I’m okay with passive understanding in the context while reading. I wonder how much points I will lose on this. I’ll read the explanations, of course, but making them stick is another thing. Or sometimes I answer wrong even when I’m thinking I’m following an explanation.

Anyway, I identify with having a motivation crash after seeing a keigo chapter :grin:

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I started a new job and I’m struggling to find as much time for JP as I did. Still studying every say just wish I could do more. I’m behind this month.

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Nice. Last year I’ve watched a couple of their N3 live streams and I really enjoyed them. Very lively and lots of examples to make the discussed topic tangible.

Hope you’ll be back in enjoying Japanese very soon either by reading books, watching movies or listening to some crazy underground music (… or simply stuff you enjoy :slight_smile: )

Congrats. Hope you’ll get back into the flow soon :four_leaf_clover:


…and for those of you who are interested in learning more about Yûma and how they got into swimming here comes a new set of six questions for the fourth N5 podcast from the JLPT stories :slight_smile:

  • 水泳– JLPT N5 / June 08 2019 / Yûma

Also, this will be the last week I am going through N5 podcasts. I’ll switch to N4 from now on.

Q1

Japanese: 泳ぎ始めた時は何ですか。
English: When did he started swimming?
Suggestions answer: when he was an elementary school student

Since before he enrolled with elementary school
Since elementary school
Since second year elementary school
Since last year of elementary school

Q2

English: How did he get started?
Suggestions answer: Together with his dad

Swimming club at his school
Swimming club at the local swimming pool
Together with his dad
Together with his mom

Q3

Japanese: すぐに、水泳クラブに入りましたか。どうしてですか。
English: Did he join the swimming club immediately? Why is that so?
Suggestions answer: No, because his parent encouraged him to get better first

Yes, because his parent encouraged him it will get him become better
Yes, because he saw other elementary students practice swimming in the local swimming pool
No, because his parent encouraged him to get better first
No, because he felt he should become better first

Q4

English: Does his parent continue swimming when Yûma joined the swimming club?
Suggestions answer: Yes, they swam for themselves and sometimes they played together with Yûma in the pool after the club finished

Yes, they swam for themselves and sometimes they played together with Yûma in the pool after the club finished
Yes, they swam for themselves but stopped playing together with Yûma in the pool (even after the club finished)
No, but sometimes they played together with Yûma in the pool after the club finished
No, they only started it to get Yûma interested in learning how to swim

Q5

Japanese: 水泳が上手になった時は何ですか。
English: When did Yûma made progress as a swimmer?
Suggestions answer: When he entered middle school

Elementary school, second year in summer
Elementary school, last year
When he entered middle school
Middle school, third year

Q6

Japanese: 今まで、部屋の中の物は何ですか。
English: What is still in Yûmas room?
Suggestions answer: medal and picture with his parent when Yûma won the swimming competition

The medal and record of achievement when Yûma the swimming competition at his last year in middle school
The medal and picture with his parent when Yûma the swimming competition at his last year in middle school
The medal and picture his parent took when Yûma the swimming competition at his last year in middle school
The medal and picture with his parent when his parent won the swimming competition at Yûmas last year in middle school

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I feel that!!
I know language learning is a marathon and not a sprint etc etc but sometimes I’m just so impatient. Like, I just wanna understand things properly already, geesh :laughing:
There’s just… so many words.

It helps to focus on the fun things like you said.
I try to focus on enjoying the things I can already watch/read (with a dictionary most of the time, but still) instead of the “end goal” (whatever that even is) that’s still way too far away anyway.
And that is fun, absolutely, but man, I still get impatient, I can’t help it :sweat_smile:

Also same :joy:
I’m not taking the jlpt this year but some day in the future I will probably face the same dilemma.
Unfortunately I have no advice, but fingers crossed that keigo isn’t that important on the exam and it will go well for you!
Good luck!!

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Was registered for July 4 in Thailand. We just found out, cancelled :frowning_face:

Oh no I’m so sorry, that must’ve been disappointing to find out :frowning:

Check-in (#6) June 6th

How does it work?

These check-in posts were suggested by @banditraider and will be made bi-weekly (on Sundays). Please answer the questions over the indicated period (so, the past two weeks). Feel free to respond, whether you’re studying more casually, or even if you’re taking the actual JLPT! It might be a nice way to hold yourself accountable, or just see how you’re progressing over time (if you regularly respond). The format and included questions aren’t set in stone at all, so if you have any suggestions, please reply!

Q1: How have you been sticking to your study schedule during the past two weeks? (period 05/23 - 06/20)
  • I have stuck to my schedule 75% - 100% of the time
  • I have stuck to my schedule around 50% of the time
  • I have stuck to my schedule 0% to 25% of the time
  • I do not have a clear schedule, but I have studied Japanese regularly
  • I do not have a clear schedule yet, but I am in the process of making one
  • I have not started studying for the JLPT yet
  • Other (please comment)

0 voters

Q2: Have you made any changes to your study routine (if you have one) or methods during the past two weeks? (period 05/23 - 06/20)
  • No
  • Yes, I have changed my routine so I spend less time on Japanese than I originally intended
  • Yes, I have changed my routine so I spend more time on Japanese than I originally intended
  • Yes, I have cut some methods from my routine
  • Yes, I have discovered new studying methods that I would like to add to my routine (please comment!)
  • Yes, I have decided to switch my focus to a different skill (e.g., listening instead of reading)
  • Yes, but I haven’t changed my routine/methods in any of the ways mentioned above (please comment!)
  • Other (please comment!)

0 voters

Q3: How confident are you for the JLPT, right now?
  • Very confident
  • Fairly confident
  • Neither
  • Not very confident
  • Not confident at all

0 voters

Q4: What is your strength in Japanese, right now?
  • Listening
  • Reading
  • Speaking
  • Vocabulary
  • Kanji
  • Writing
  • Grammar
  • My skills are all at a similar level
  • I don’t know
  • Other (please comment!)

0 voters

Q5: What is your weakness in Japanese, right now?
  • Listening
  • Reading
  • Speaking
  • Vocabulary
  • Kanji
  • Writing
  • Grammar
  • My skills are all at a similar level
  • I don’t know
  • Other (please comment!)

0 voters

All polls close in 2 weeks, just before the next check-in post.

Please leave a comment if you feel a question or answering option is missing/should be changed! Also feel free to leave any other comments you might have!

5 Likes

I love how I always tick on ‘Reading’ as my strength and then I go back to my book that I’m reading. ^^" I don’t even try to pretend that I’m putting emphasis on improving my other skills. Finally my local library opened again, and I rented an N2 preparation book… yeah you guessed right, it’s 読解.

My plan is to work through this one, see if I can actually solve the reading problems, and then concentrate on the other parts. Like listening, mainly.

I am learning new words via Anki every day (25/day, might change it to 30-35 though, because now I spend less than 30 min every day with Anki), and also new grammar with Bunpro (5-10/day).

3 Likes

I’m quite late, but I’ll join. I’m already considering using N4 as sort a progress marker anyway so would be neat to have a more concrete deadline to aim for.

For the past couple of months or so I’ve been a bit more consistent with my studying. It’s following a period of struggling before that. I felt like I was focusing too much on certain aspects and neglecting others which I think demotivated me at times. So recently I’ve stuck to:

  1. Going through WK reviews daily and slowly adding new lessons
  2. Working through a Genki 2 based memrise deck
  3. Reading grammar explanations in Genki then loading them into Bunpro

As of writing, I only have chapter 20-23 left before I finish adding all the vocab on memrise. I’m a bit further behind when it comes to the grammar (still on chapter 17) but I plan to focus more on that once I finish adding all the vocab items.

Outside of that I’ve also been listening to JPod101 episodes most days and doing a few lessons with a native speaker who gives me reading assignments. More so for fun and to vary my studying method a bit so I’m not solely using SRS. But I think it’s good in the sense that I’m being exposed to conversation and not simply studying the concepts in isolation.

Probably going to be difficult for me to finish in the span of less than a month since I’ll be studying something else full time, but maybe there’s still a chance I can pass. The thought makes me motivated so I welcome the challenge :triumph:

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An inconvenience for me. Thai students are missing out on grants from Japan Government,
study abroad plans dashed. Really sad

1 Like

Welp, the JLPT for Singapore has been cancelled. This is despite us having a soft lockdown until 21 June and daily cases are now around 10-15 people for a population of arond 6 million. 65% of the population have also been vaccinated. Our highest number of daily transmission cases this year is around 50.

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I continue to go about this in a very disorganised way haha. I originally intended to do the N5 test, I’m now thinking I’ll try N4. However the new element I’ve added to my study routine (other than reading a whole bunch via the read every day challenge here) is that I’ve been watching one segment of this 日本語の森 N3 video every day: Here I like it as it’s covering quite a lot of grammar I’ve come across reading, as well as being extra listening and reading practice given that it’s taught in Japanese.

…however it won’t be very helpful for N4 at all haha, especially given that my real weakness is most likely vocab :sweat_smile: But I don’t have enough time for any more SRS on top of WK and Jalup (I mean I would if I sacrificed reading time for SRS but no way I’m doing that) so…:person_shrugging:

Scotland isn’t holding the JLPT until July 2022 at the earliest anyway so doesn’t matter too terribly much regardless. Will be interesting to see how the practice test goes!

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Finished with all my textbooks & both sample tests!!! :tada:

I realize this event is for 2012 mock test, and I shouldn’t “spoiler” anything regarding 2018 questions, but since I did both I want to share my results for both.
Btw, I preferred the 2018 test, because it has much nicer resolution.

I didn’t use any weighting method for calculating my results.

N3 2012 2018
kanji and vocabulary 79% 91%
grammar 70% 74%
reading 87% 87%
listening 89% 71%

Listening was a nice surprise, after how much I complained about it. It still got the most unstable score of all sections. But I expected 50-60%, especially since that’s what I got on average during textbook’s exercises (Sou Matome + SKM).

Taking into account that kanji&vocab&grammar are counted as one section, my overall result would be this:

2012: 83%
2018: 80%

Well. I would be satisfied if it was a real score :wink:

Now my next big plan is to finish WaniKani, but first to reward myself with some reading for the next few weeks months.

8 Likes

Check-in (#7) June 20th [Last check-in before Mock JLPT!]

How does it work?

These check-in posts were suggested by @banditraider and will be made bi-weekly (on Sundays). Please answer the questions over the indicated period (so, the past two weeks). Feel free to respond, whether you’re studying more casually, or even if you’re taking the actual JLPT! It might be a nice way to hold yourself accountable, or just see how you’re progressing over time (if you regularly respond). The format and included questions aren’t set in stone at all, so if you have any suggestions, please reply!

Q1: How have you been sticking to your study schedule during the past two weeks? (period 06/06 - 06/20)
  • I have stuck to my schedule 75% - 100% of the time
  • I have stuck to my schedule around 50% of the time
  • I have stuck to my schedule 0% to 25% of the time
  • I do not have a clear schedule, but I have studied Japanese regularly
  • I do not have a clear schedule yet, but I am in the process of making one
  • I have not started studying for the JLPT yet
  • Other (please comment)

0 voters

Q2: Have you made any changes to your study routine (if you have one) or methods during the past two weeks? (period 06/06 - 06/20)
  • No
  • Yes, I have changed my routine so I spend less time on Japanese than I originally intended
  • Yes, I have changed my routine so I spend more time on Japanese than I originally intended
  • Yes, I have cut some methods from my routine
  • Yes, I have discovered new studying methods that I would like to add to my routine (please comment!)
  • Yes, I have decided to switch my focus to a different skill (e.g., listening instead of reading)
  • Yes, but I haven’t changed my routine/methods in any of the ways mentioned above (please comment!)
  • Other (please comment!)

0 voters

Q3: How confident are you for the JLPT, right now?
  • Very confident
  • Fairly confident
  • Neither
  • Not very confident
  • Not confident at all

0 voters

Q4: What is your strength in Japanese, right now?
  • Listening
  • Reading
  • Speaking
  • Vocabulary
  • Kanji
  • Writing
  • Grammar
  • My skills are all at a similar level
  • I don’t know
  • Other (please comment!)

0 voters

Q5: What is your weakness in Japanese, right now?
  • Listening
  • Reading
  • Speaking
  • Vocabulary
  • Kanji
  • Writing
  • Grammar
  • My skills are all at a similar level
  • I don’t know
  • Other (please comment!)

0 voters

All polls close in 2 weeks, just before the next check-in post.

Please leave a comment if you feel a question or answering option is missing/should be changed! Also feel free to leave any other comments you might have!

2 Likes

Sorry for the amount of mistakes in the last check-in :sweat_smile: I have my thesis defense next friday, so I’ve been very busy with preparations (and actually finishing my thesis lol). There should be no mistakes this time :stuck_out_tongue:

Next Sunday I’ll work on coming up with a guideline for scoring the Mock JLPT!

Good luck to everyone with the last two weeks! I’m probably going to get most of my studying done in the last week :crazy_face:

4 Likes

I stopped expressly studying for the mock test and decided to take a yolo approach to it :grin: If I do well, that’s nice. If I don’t, I’ll know what to focus on going forward :woman_shrugging:t2:

6 Likes

I decided to sign up :see_no_evil: JLPT here might be cancelled due to covid again, so I started to take it a bit easier and I’m probably just gonna do a mock test instead :eyes:

4 Likes