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+--- Thread: JLPT December 2013 - GAME ON! (/thread-11032.html)
JLPT December 2013 - GAME ON! - Vempele - 2013-11-26
dtcamero Wrote:you guys realize that there are comparatively fewer points awarded to the reading section, as opposed to grammar, right...?What do you mean? Reading is 60 points. Grammar + vocab is 60 points.
JLPT December 2013 - GAME ON! - rich_f - 2013-11-26
Yeah, that's the thing. Unless I'm missing something (please let me know if I am), the way I see it is this:
Grammar (at least on the N1) is usually about 54-55 questions. The passages where you have to fill in blanks are considered part of the grammar test, not reading comp. That leaves only 20-21 questions for reading comp, which counts for 60 points, too.
(basing it off of this: http://www.jlpt.jp/e/guideline/results.html )
I know the weighting means that some questions are worth more than others (hard questions get more points than easy ones), but I'd still choose to skip 5 grammar over 5 reading questions.
Again, unless there's something going on I'm missing?
JLPT December 2013 - GAME ON! - SammyB - 2013-11-26
Wow rich_f that seems like important information! Haha.. I had no idea they were weighted so differently. "reading" questions seem closer to 3 points each compared to basically 1 point each for the grammar/vocab questions.
It does seem like it'd be better to skip a grammar question than to end up without enough time for the reading section.
JLPT December 2013 - GAME ON! - Vempele - 2013-11-26
rich_f, where did you get the numbers for how many questions there are?
JLPT December 2013 - GAME ON! - rich_f - 2013-11-26
From taking N1 a couple of times already. JLPT follows patterns on the number of questions. Generally it's 50-55 grammar questions, and 20-25 reading comp.
Grammar has to cover a bunch of different question types, so naturally it'll have more questions. Reading comp is just reading comp. It makes up for the lack of variety with more complexity and longer passages. (Read and understand the reading comp questions before you start reading. It will save you a ton of time.)
As for the subject area, well, that's anybody's guess.
JLPT December 2013 - GAME ON! - rich_f - 2013-11-30
I'm going to be busy heading up to DC to take the test later, so I wanted to wish everyone good luck on their JLPTs tomorrow (later today for the folks in Japan, I guess.)
JLPT December 2013 - GAME ON! - gaiaslastlaugh - 2013-11-30
rich_f Wrote:I'm going to be busy heading up to DC to take the test later, so I wanted to wish everyone good luck on their JLPTs tomorrow (later today for the folks in Japan, I guess.)Best of luck, rich_f! Last-minute studying and egregious listening to of anime here before tomorrow's N2 at University of Washington.
JLPT December 2013 - GAME ON! - vonPeterhof - 2013-11-30
Welp, as we say here in Russia "you won't get enough breath before dying", so I guess it's time for me to just stop frantically cramming A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar and try to get some sleep. Good luck, everyone!
JLPT December 2013 - GAME ON! - Zon70 - 2013-11-30
Do you know if you really have to have an analog watch to take the test? On my pamphlet it says you MUST have one. I thought it said its reccomended but when I checked again today I was wrong. Does anyone know if I will actually be turned away tommorow if I show up without a watch?
JLPT December 2013 - GAME ON! - gaiaslastlaugh - 2013-11-30
Zon70 Wrote:Do you know if you really have to have an analog watch to take the test? On my pamphlet it says you MUST have one. I thought it said its reccomended but when I checked again today I was wrong. Does anyone know if I will actually be turned away tommorow if I show up without a watch?It depends on the facility, I think. Most test rooms have clocks. Mine did last year. No one checks to make sure if you actually have one.
JLPT December 2013 - GAME ON! - SomeCallMeChris - 2013-11-30
My test site has clocks as well.
Besides, you don't need to know the time. The point of the rule is, you -cannot- have a digital watch or a turned-on cell phone (to prevent you storing hints, and also because digital watches with hourly chimes are distracting.)
-If- you want to be sure you know what time it is, you need an analog watch. If you're fine with just the verbal warning that there's only a few minutes left, then it doesn't matter. If you bring a digital watch you risk disqualification, but I don't remember anyone checking people's wrists. They do check that cell phones and notebooks are put away.
They don't check that your cell phone is turned off, but supposedly you're disqualified if your cell phone rings or vibrates.
Personally, I never look at the clock, I prefer to focus my concentration on answering questions than to try to meta-game the alloted time.
(N1 this time. Should be my last JLPT. Surely it will be, I'm eating lots of kit-kats after all!)
JLPT December 2013 - GAME ON! - rich_f - 2013-11-30
Yeah, it's just a rule to avoid annoying watches in the test rooms. I have an analog watch I picked up a few years back when I first started taking the jlpt, because I have a terrible sense of time.
Somecallmechris is right: I probably shouldn't worry too much about it, but I will anyway.
The only tricky bit for me is jump-starting my brain into Japanese mode in the morning.
Now after a mind-numbing drive, it's time for a snack (KitKats), a few hundred flashcards, and some shuteye.
Don't forget your bananas and milk before you head out.
JLPT December 2013 - GAME ON! - SomeCallMeChris - 2013-11-30
rich_f Wrote:Don't forget your bananas and milk before you head out.???
Is this a test superstition or something about brain chemistry? (I don't have them in the house either way, but still.)
JLPT December 2013 - GAME ON! - Guoguodi - 2013-12-01
Just finished the N1 here in Melbourne. I found the reading portion pretty good but the listening was quite tricky in places. Overall pretty sure I passed. For those of you who've taken the test already, how'd it go?
JLPT December 2013 - GAME ON! - vonPeterhof - 2013-12-01
Just got home after the N1 in Saint Petersburg. That was... pretty awful, not gonna lie. Just like when I was doing N2, when doing the grammar section I decided to skip all questions I wasn't 100% certain about to get to the reading section faster and return to them after having gone through all the questions. Well, I ended up skipping about 90% of the grammar section. When they announced that we only had five minutes to go I hadn't even read the tasks for the last two questions of the reading section, so I abandoned them to frantically fill in the missed answers in the grammar section. Needless to say, I didn't even manage to fill the last few remaining answers at random. Probably left a fifth or a quarter of the answers blank. Oh and the listening was a bitch as usual. The first two tasks were pretty easy, but I'm really uncertain about the other three. Not sure if taking notes in romaji helped or only distracted me from the voices.
I guess I might have been lulled into a false sense of security by the N2, which I really didn't expect to pass and yet did (although I did manage to fill in all answers in that one). The sample test on the website also didn't help, because it seemed much easier than the real thing to me. I realized that this week when I found questions from last years N1 on the web, but by then there wasn't much I could do. Would have been cool if I passed N1 without ever having been to Japan (BTW, does anybody know of anyone who has?), but I guess I'm not there yet. Gotta keep cramming that DAJG. and probably read some 夏目漱石 or something.
A few more random observations:
-There were 18 people taking the N1 in Saint Petersburg, 15 of whom were female.
-One of the two other guys was apparently an exchange student from Korea, judging by his JLPT preparation book in Korean, his fluent yet obviously foreign accented Russian and the fact that he seemed to know some of the other students present.
-Looked like everyone other than myself was a college student, but as a 23-year old who frequently gets mistaken for a high school student I'm really in no position to make assumptions about people's ages.
-The word とことん was used surprisingly frequently. I think I might have got one of the questions wrong because I confused it with どんどん.
-My N2 certificate still hasn't arrived. Starting to get a little worried here...
JLPT December 2013 - GAME ON! - Vempele - 2013-12-01
vonPeterhof Wrote:The sample test on the website also didn't help, because it seemed much easier than the real thing to me.The short sample or the full-sized one (workbook)? The former seemed much easier than the latter to me, so if the latter is still that much easier than the real thing...
I guess they gotta do something to keep those passing percentages low. After all, they collect more money if people end up having to take the test multiple times.
Quote:I realized that this week when I found questions from last years N1 on the web,Where?
JLPT December 2013 - GAME ON! - vonPeterhof - 2013-12-01
Vempele Wrote:The workbook. As far as I remember, that one isn't exactly full-sized either, but it's bigger than the slideshow-style sample.vonPeterhof Wrote:The sample test on the website also didn't help, because it seemed much easier than the real thing to me.The short sample or the full-sized one (workbook)?
Vempele Wrote:On this thread, linked by the user yarkov, near the bottom of the thread. The word document contains lots of typos and the listening parts obviously aren't there, but it should give you a picture.Quote:I realized that this week when I found questions from last years N1 on the web,Where?
JLPT December 2013 - GAME ON! - rich_f - 2013-12-01
The bananas and milk thing is something I heard on a show like Gatten. It's supposed to activate your brain or something like that. I have no idea if it's true or not, but it's only a banana and some milk.
@vonpeterhof I took N1 just a few months after passing N2 as well, and got creamed by it. There's a lot of new material to cover on the test, so don't worry too much about it now, chalk it up to experience for the next time you challenge it. I'm a big fan of the kanzen master N1 books, especially the grammar book, because it covers a LOT of material you won't find in the dictionary of advanced Japanese grammar.
JLPT December 2013 - GAME ON! - Vempele - 2013-12-01
@vonPeterhof: I'd actually found that one, I just hadn't realized that the Baidu had the 2012 tests as well. Thanks.
The workbook is 69 questions plus listening; all four tests from 2011-2012 were 70 questions, so 98.6%-sized unless they uploaded incomplete tests.
Edit: tried the December 2012 test. Seemed about the same difficulty as the workbook, though I did score slightly worse (45/70 vs. 47/69). Warning: the answers that come with the test are wrong. I found the correct answers on http://jp.hjenglish.com
JLPT December 2013 - GAME ON! - Zgarbas - 2013-12-01
Background: I've only spent about 50h per total on Japanese in the past 3 months combined, most of which was 会話 in various situations. I've neglected it entirely.
This morning: It's ok if I fail, I'm quite resigned with my fate.
語彙：Man, I know these words, but I've not used them in so long that I've forgotten quite a bit. At least I knew them at one point
文法：Could've been worse. Only had 2-3 questions where I was completely lost (and the star exercises, of course).
どっかい：Mixed feelings. I had trouble concentrating and my attention span was low, so I often lost track of what I was reading and had to read every line at least 3 times. But it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. I still finished 30 minutes early, but by then I was so drained that I couldn't bear to check my answers, so I didn't.
Conclusion after writing section? Man, I've forgotten a lot these past 3 months but had I taken this in August I would've passed easily o.O. Total fail, but easier than what I'd expected. While I'd clearly forgotten the meaning/usage of many words, there were only about 10 in the entire section which I had no recollection of (read: seeing them for the first time). Pretty good.
Then came the 聴解。It's not that I failed. It's not that I didn't know. My concentration was so poor that I couldn't even listen. As soon as a sentence would end I would instantly forget it. I'd listen to the question and instantly forget it. I'd listen to the options and as soon as they were said I'd instantly forget them. I would take notes and forget the beginning of the word by the time I'd write the ending (and at one point a year was mentioned, and by the time I wrote 19 I had forgotten the last 2 digits; we're talking a remarkably short attention span here). The entire exam felt like friggin Memento. I think there were 10 sentences max where I could concentrate enough to actually catch. I have no idea what happened. It's the damn lack of writing. I can't focus on audio alone, I just can't >.< Hilariously enough I think I nailed the very last question since I was so happy to see writing again that my concentration got its act together for a few minutes.
After the exam ended I just had a blank look on my face, and everyone left with their heads down after the 聴解 section. Daaaamn.
JLPT December 2013 - GAME ON! - vileru - 2013-12-01
vonPeterhof Wrote:Would have been cool if I passed N1 without ever having been to Japan (BTW, does anybody know of anyone who has?)Mezbup did. See here and here.
JLPT December 2013 - GAME ON! - rich_f - 2013-12-01
So there were a bunch of words on the test. The only one I remember is とことん. I had a lot of trouble with the reading, and trouble with the grammar.
But the only part I think I did well on was the listening. I'll have to find someplace to take it this coming summer.
JLPT December 2013 - GAME ON! - spleenlol - 2013-12-01
Just finished the N2 taken in Ann Arbor.
This was my first time taking this exam.
I think I got owned by the grammar and vocabulary sections.
The reading comprehension I did well but started to run out of time near the end so I had to just skim and mark in answers.
I think I did really well on the listening section. Just put my hood up (which blocked all light and all peripheral vision ^^) and just cranked it out.
Now I just got to wait to see but I think I might have passed?
JLPT December 2013 - GAME ON! - dtcamero - 2013-12-01
i anki'd everything from kanzen master 1&2, so the vocab/grammar section was a breeze.
I guess I read slowly maybe, but I took two practice tests and each time left 3 or 4 pages unfinished. So being as strategic as possible I made sure those sections were my weakest... the long essay with blanks where you fill in words, and the compare/contrast (b/c it only has 2 points and is as involved as the big essays) and one big essay.
If there were a half-hour more time in the test it would be a cakewalk.
All my practice exams had 75-80% scores, I just kept running out of time.
And I found the listening more difficult than usual, like everyone else. Reading was comparatively light though i thought.
Going to estimate an 80-90 point score, read 8 novels in the next 12 months and see you guys next December.
JLPT December 2013 - GAME ON! - SomeCallMeChris - 2013-12-01
Whew. N1, I might have passed, hard to say. My reading speed is -still- too slow. Well, okay, it requires a totally different reading speed for N1 compared to N2, it's not that I haven't improved, but not -enough. Too many words where I pause as the reading slowly comes to me, and to many spots where I hit the end of the sentence, realize I was parsing it wrong and have to re-read it to group the words correctly and get the right meaning. This isn't so bad normally... but when you put up a time limit... ow. Filled in some random bubbles when five minutes was announced, and had time to correct 1 of them after actually doing the reading.
I thought the listening section was pretty easy at first, but it got progressively harder or else I was becoming unable to focus, or both.
Overall, it feels like I did about as well as I did when I passed N2, but that was a little too close to the cutoff for me to know if this is a pass or not.
I was struck however by the total lack of archaic grammar despite repeated claims to the contrary. Not one case of 汝は美しゅで御座る or the like, all entirely modern. Not surprising, really, but I wonder why that claim keeps emerging.
I'd already have had a clear idea of what was on the test if I'd actually studied to the test with a Kanzen Master or something, but I just study to what I'm reading, watching, or playing. Perhaps I should have actually studied for the test, but then again, I'm close enough that even if I don't pass this time, I should pass easily next time. As long as I focus on reading faster.