Yoo ekg what’s up, long time no see.
I think the grading is in a post above (it’s of course not the official grading, they use a dynamic system adapting to how difficult the questions were for all of the test takers, but it’s an approximation):
Gonna post my scores when I am done with the listening section (that’s going to go terribly, but eh):
Very happy how the test turned out; although I feel like I got a bit lucky in some of the listening and grammar questions. Still, I was prepared to go down in flames in the listening comprehension section; and I had major issues with question 1 in particular, but I somehow managed to passably do that as well.
Reading also went way better than expected, the only thing I anticipated was how good the vocab went.
I think my goal of doing N2 in a year is very realistic when considering the mock.
(Did anyone else also find part 4 and 5 of the listening comprehension hilarious at times? This kind of “someone says something that only vaguely makes sense” is also really my kind of humour, but still. The answers to the example for question 5 had me laughing hysterically for quite some time, had to interrupt the test for a bit )
I just finished the language knowledge part of the N1 (I’m on my 20 min break now lol). I had 30 seconds left when I finished, so my timing was perfect?! I guess?!
But seriously, I went through vocabulary and grammar quite fast, I think I still had over an hour left, but I took suuuuuuch a long time with reading. I also felt unsure of almost all my answers I do feel like I can read faster now (compared to when I took the N2 2 years ago) and I also feel like I understand things a liiiittle better.
Anyway, I’ll continue with listening in a bit. My brain feels fried already haha
Before I forget, it would be really nice if everyone could refrain from discussing specific questions of the 2012 test before people have finished! So far I see everyone is hiding specifics behind blurs etc, which is perfect! So just keep doing that as much as possible to not spoil any questions for anyone else!
Listening is waaay easier than the rest of the exam imho.
Currently I have a 文のルール book with me from the library, so I hope to improve on the grammar score soon…
Hopefully in 153 days I will be even more prepared and N2 will be a breeze. ^^
I gave N3. Gotta admit, WK for the win (Although i haven’t leveled up in almost a month because of multiple reasons). I cannot imagine passing N3 with just 2 weeks of prep without WK. Pretty sure 満点 in vocab section. More than enough marks to pass the other 2 sections. Gonna start N2 prep.
Okay, the listening section was probably the weirdest “test luck” I’ve ever experienced. Literally half of the time I couldn’t answer the question anywhere near confidently (I marked the questions where that was the case - 13/27). There were quite a few things I didn’t understand (I also lost focus a lot…). So I either tried my best based on process of elimination or even straight up guessed. And somehow almost all of that was correct?? I’m not sure I can even count that, lol. Would be neat if the same thing happened during a real test…
Overall I’m very happy with how the results turned out, even though the listening score is totally undeserved lol.
Unfortunately the (real) December test is inconvenient for me for a bunch of reasons, so how (un?)realistic would N2 next July be…
Hmm, despite the lack of a second break I think it might not be so bad that the three language knowledge sections are combined on the higher levels.
I finished my vocab section (N3) in just a bit over half the time and suddenly had a longish break I didn’t know what to do with, but then really struggled to finish the grammar/reading section on time (had about 30 seconds left, like you). Could have used the ten minutes I had left on Vocab for the reading/grammar section
But then again breaks are nice too. My brain is fried (despite the 2 breaks I had).
I DID NOT DO A GREAT JOB LOL (this was to be expected… I did not study enough by far)
However!! There were some fun surprises (for me at least):
N1 results
Percentages
Vocabulary: 8/25 (omg)
Grammar: 14/20 (A MIRACLE!!!)
Reading: 11/24 (not bad for me haha)
Listening: 28/35 (did not go as well as I would’ve liked, but this is good enough)
Weighted
Vocabulary/Grammar: 32/60
Reading: 25/60
Listening: 45/60
Total: 102/180
Thoughts
Percentages:
In percentages, this would be 57% in total! Which is not really great, and would indicate 102 points in total, which is just barely a pass (100/180 at least). All in all, without preparation (except for watching videos on youtube, writing and speaking Japanese regularly) I’m pretty happy with this score! I think if I study hard next time I’d be able to pass? Maybe?! If I do my bestest best?!
Weighted:
These weights were incredibly random, so I don’t think I can come to any conclusions based on this score, but I think it’s safe to say that I would’ve needed a REALLY good day to pass lol. That’s good though! This is mostly without studying, and I think that especially shows in the vocabulary section. Reading is my worst section as always, so I just have to practice more in the coming time.
Funny is that with both calculation methods I would’ve scored 102 points out of 180! What are the odds of getting that haha. But yeah, by studying vocabulary more actively, and reading more as well, I think I should be able to get those scores up and actually pass next time.
Good job to everyone who already finished!! I’m going through all posts in more detail tomorrow, but I need a break now haha. I might take the N2 tomorrow though, just to see whether I would’ve done any better than 2 years ago.
I’ve improved since last year. Yay! I’m pretty happy with the results considering that I haven’t been practicing for today other than reading books and doing reviews as usual. Was pretty demotivating for me when it was cancelled last winter. On another note, it’s a bit funny that I still need to practice reading, while listening went smooth.
Last year's results (July)
The plan is to take N2 for real in December. N1 seems a bit too intimidating for me to think about yet.
Well, I did N3 and it worked out pretty well, I only got 5 answers wrong on grammar, but everything else was good. I don’t think I’m gonna do N2 though, this took way more time than I expected lol.
I wonder if they play the audio sections more than once when you do the test for real? I had to replay two of the questions once, just to make sure.
I do have one question about one of the exercises for those who already did N3 or don’t plan on doing it:
What the hell does this mean? I got it right by pure chance, but I have no idea what the brother is trying to say
Was planning to study a bit for N2, but I couldn’t keep up with my plans
I took the mock test anyway today, and it looks like I might possibly have passed by the skin of my teeth
Results for N2
Questions
Weighted
Vocabulary
19/32
16.5/28
Grammar
10/22
16/32
Reading
10/21
26/60
Listening
22/30
45.5/60
Total
61/95
104/180
I’m not totally convinced when it comes to the weighted scoring, though. E.g. the pamphlet questions were 5 points each, I found this really high compared to the other questions. But then again, who am I to know this
I took the N2 for fun in solidarity with @NicoleIsEnough (I passed N2 3 years ago and N1 2,5 years ago)
I missed one vocab question and one reading question.
Question 14
I picked 未 instead of 非. I think I read it as 未公開 instead of 非公式, oh well.
Question 71
I picked
1 どんな研究であっても、役に立つ新しい発見につなげられるから
The correct answer was
2 どんなことでも、自分の研究に役立つものがあるかもしれないから
The responses seem really similar to me, so I decided to ask a Japanese friend, and he also thought that 1 was the correct answer
So even though the JLPT says it’s wrong, knowing that a Japanese person chose the same answer as me puts me at ease
It’s only played once in the test; they don’t pause the audio or anything. Although there is a 〜20 second break after one of the questions where they play some relaxing music (lol)
I agree with your translation:
Sister: “I’m going to have dinner with my friends tonight.”
Brother: “Okay. If it looks like it’s gonna take until after 9 pm, I’ll come pick you up (at the station or the restaurant), so call me”
Well I got that one wrong I think , but I think you’ve got it? As in, “If it gets past 9, I’m going to come meet you/pick you up (because I don’t want you to be out by yourself that late), so call me”
I took the N5 mock test this morning and N4 this afternoon and I passed both of them (with some lucky guesses in the listening section) - without any particular preparation for the tests.
Ouch, thanks for the heads up lol. When I did my english test I think they played each audio twice, so there wasn’t much pressure to get the answer right on the first try.
Oh, I guess that was it then. I don’t know what it is, but that sentence still sounds kinda confusing to me when I read it. I guess I just need more reading practice.
I did mock N3 today. First time I simulated a JLPT to be in a “real” scenario. I knew that N3 was a little bit too easy at this point but it was also to get a feel for the JLPT. I plan to do N2 at a later date.
Total: 161/180
Language Knowledge (Vocabulary/Grammar): 48,5/60
Reading: 57/60
Listening: 55,5/60
I have to work on vocab/grammar. I’m very curious what my N2 results would be, as that would give me a better overview of my weakness and what specifically I need to work on.
That was my decision, and same It was really difficult to get the numbers to add up sometimes, so take the weighted scores with a grain of salt I mostly did this so you can try to calculate a fitting score, but I think percentages are more accurate for sure!
Oh but if you have a different suggestion for weighting sections, definitely do mention those!! it might help people get a more accurate idea of their scores
That went… better than expected!
I tried the N5 and the N4 to see how I’m doing, hoping to pass N5, and not fail N4 too much - but I passed both according to the weighted scores.
N5
110/120 Language Knowledge (91.6%)
44/60 Listening (73.3%)
154/180 Total (85.5%)
N4
80/120 Language Knowledge (66.6%)
42.75/60 Listening (71.2%)
122.75/180 Total (68%)
Thanks to everybody who participated, and extra special thanks to @NathaLire for organising this! It’s been fun to have some motivation to keep me studying since all of the 2020 test have been canceled in the UK!
I was going to do both the N5 and the N4 buuuut I messed up my planning and ended up going to donate blood this morning which used up my morning and meant I was feeling a bit wiped. So, N4 only!
Total: 127.25/180 (about 70%)
breakdown
Vocab: 32/53
Grammar: 24/35
Reading: 26/32
Listening: 45.25/60
I completely bombed one section of the Vocab and only got 2 right out of a possible 9 A combination of finding it difficult to identify all of the all hiragana words and the fact that I’ve never really made an effort to study N4 vocab (I guess it would be too much to expect that it would all be vocab I would have picked up from reading shonen manga haha) means that’s not all that shocking. Surprisingly, what I expected would be the most difficult section for me (Listening) I turned out to find the easiest. I pretty much only dropped points on questions where I knew that I’d zoned out and stopped paying attention
Anyway - based on the grading I would have pretty comfortably passed, which is cool! While this is just a mock, it was really helpful as I was thinking that given all tests are cancelled in the UK until July next year I’d want to skip to N3 - seems encouraging that that would be a sensible thing to do
Thanks to all for their participation in this, and really massive thanks to @NathaLire for all of your work putting together the scoring and co-ordinating
)
it might help people get a more accurate idea of their scores
A combination of finding it difficult to identify all of the all hiragana words and the fact that I’ve never really made an effort to study N4 vocab (I guess it would be too much to expect that it would all be vocab I would have picked up from reading shonen manga haha) means that’s not all that shocking. Surprisingly, what I expected would be the most difficult section for me (Listening) I turned out to find the easiest. I pretty much only dropped points on questions where I knew that I’d zoned out and stopped paying attention