It’s really tough, you have to concentrate hard. If you’re distracted still thinking about the last question you can easily miss the start of the next one with no chance to listen again.
I think preparing for this is an important part of getting ready for the exam. I found it helpful to look ahead and start preparing myself for the next question, looking at the pictures and trying to think about what vocabulary was about to come up.
So you have already the text of the listening question, before the audio starts?
I know this problem from duolingo where they throw a long Japanese sentence at you and while I am looking for the first English word in the given word list, I miss the rest of the sentence.
As I remember you have the question sheet for the whole of the listening section before the audio starts. Some questions give you a picture to look at, or a series of pictures, others give you some written answers to choose from.
I think it’s also worth mentioning that you are not allowed to flip through the pages in advance, though 
Everybody gets to open the questions booklet at the same time, and I think that’s when the audio will start to play. But there’s usually a run-in text where the question type is briefly explained; if you are familiar with the question types, you can make use of that time to look at the question material. If there is a lot of stuff to read (there are some questions with only text as answers), there will be a short pause.
It’s also worth knowing that there is a type of questions where nothing is written down at all, you have to listen to all of the question and answering options.
If you search on Youtube for “JLPT listening N…” with the level of choice, you will find lots of examples that you can try out.
After reading @NicoleIsEnough 's and @Micki 's answers, I have enrolled for the mock N5, too, because I don’t think that I would pass N4 with these listening conditions.
I will try to pass N5 with the strict conditions, but for N4 I’ll probably need at least one audio replay.
I just finished Tobira (quick and dirty lol) and I am overwhelmed by all the options I have right now. Here is where I stand at the moment:
Vocabulary: N5, N4 and N3
Kanji: N5, N4 and N3
Grammar: N5 and N4 + the Tobira grammar points
Reading: loads of book clubs
Listening: absolute trash
JLPT experience: none
I’d like to work my way through some JLPT prep books in order to get acquainted with the question types, but I am not sure whether to start with N4 or with N3. I only have 10 weeks. I thought I could do the N4 listening practise and then move on to N3 grammar/reading/listening? What JLPT prep book(s) would be most appropriate? Shin Kanzen Master, Sou Matome or Try?
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!
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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!
It’s that time of the… bi-week again! I have some important deadlines next week so I haven’t been able to study as much as I wanted to, nor have I been able to set up my ‘stricter’ schedule for May/June. Hopefully I’ll be able to do so before the next check-in.
Again, I have managed to read a lot more than before, so that’s really nice 
i’m still just taking things as they come, without any specific preparation for the jlpt. definitely spending more time on japanese, and i’ve added kamesame to my routine. dropped duolingo after getting a 1-year streak; it was my entrance to learning japanese, but i’ve outgrown it.
speaking and writing are still my weakest points, but i’m not focussing on them yet. however, when i started WK my grammar was way ahead of my kanji and reading, this has since changed to where it’s a bit of a weak point of mine. it’d definitely something i need to put more work into.
i like these check-in posts, they give me a moment to think about where i am in my learning, and where i want to go ^^ thank you for that ^^
For now I’m shifting my focus to speaking practice because my speaking level is still quite low. Trying to read a simple visual novel out loud to get used to producing speech patterns while also doing more conversation practice sessions with native speakers. When I get to the level where I’m comfortably producing complete spontaneous sentences fairly regularly, I’ll switch back to JLPT study I think.
I might also try to make a list of basic grammar points, pick like 5 a day, and write some example sentences. Writing is definitely easier than speaking for me but maybe I can use it to bridge the production gap 
Oooh, this seems like a fun idea! Might be a good way for me to make my studies a bit more structured (Knowing me though-… ha ha… ha…). Or at least get me some content for my studyblr. (Maybe…) Anyway, I love community stuff like this! Maybe I should sign up?
Also, hi @riya! 
What you wrote about reading a visual novel out loud is so clever. I honestly haven’t practiced speaking… ever? I’ve been voiding it like the plague 
I associate it too much with the pressure of talking to people I think, haha… Maybe I should finally pull myself together and actually work on speaking a bit more. (My problem is that I’m really bad at forcing myself to do things these days though. The little voice in my head goes “…but why. I don’t wanna” and well. I just can’t argue with that logic 
)
Yeah I avoided it for a really long time myself so I hear you. It’s not easy to start. I find I often need to be locked into some sort of commitment to force myself into it.
I’m finding reading aloud to be surprisingly tiring even though the content difficulty is quite easy. I had to read the phrase 調べればいい so many times just to get all the sounds out
Yay, another check-in! These past two weeks went by fast!
My Anki and WK reviews are a huge pain and I’m not actually making any progress besides not letting them pile up, but I’m still on track to finish my N3 grammar studies before July 4th.
I mentioned it in a previous post, but I started writing my own example/practice sentences, then checking them in DeepL to see what it comes out with for a translation. Mostly for fun, because it’s not always very accurate.
I don’t think I’ve done a proper check in yet but so far things are going to schedule. I’m going over Tobira Chapter 2 with my Japanese teacher (via iTalki - highly recommend as each lesson you do should help you hit all areas of study) as well as making good progress on Bunpro.
Anyone who has taken/passed the JLPT N3 - do you think Tobira is enough? I also have a load of N3 Kanzen Masters/Nihongo Saotome to use as revision but want to get through Tobira/Bunpro N3 points before diving in.
Before going into prep books maybe you can gauge the level you’d like to go for. I’d suggest the following:
=> Within (less than) one week you have gained some experience in how the JLPT tests are structured and what type of questions will be asked.
=> You now have some experience in JLPT tests and you know which parts are easy and which are difficult for you or which grammar points / type of questions you want to practice more.
You can then decide which level you want to go for and use the left ~9 weeks for preparation
As for your question about prep books hopefully someone else will give feedback. I’ve never used prep books so far. Only old tests.
That sounds like a great idea, I’ll give that a go! 
EDIT: Good thing I followed your advice! Spending time on N4 prep would’ve been a waste. Turns out my listening isn’t quite as trash as I feared it was
Don’t know how to edit, but would like to try N2 as i am preparing for over 4 months.
That’s what I’m currently doing with the N4 as preparation (since I want to take the N3 on the actual test date)
It’s definitely less exhausting than doing the entire thing in one sitting 
In the bottom right corner of the post with all the names you should be able to find an ‘Edit’ button. There you can add yourself to the list
Awesome! (And you managed to test it within a day instead of the suggested week )
Absolutely. Doing the full test setup I only do to prepare myself for the “exam part” of JLPT. With this I mean stuff like:
