+- kanji koohii FORUM (http://forum.koohii.com)
+-- Forum: Learning Japanese (http://forum.koohii.com/forum-4.html)
+--- Forum: JLPT, Jobs & College in Japan (http://forum.koohii.com/forum-12.html)
+--- Thread: 2015 JLPT N3 Thread (/thread-12636.html)
2015 JLPT N3 Thread - ariariari - 2015-05-28
EratiK Wrote:Haha, silly me. :oGood to hear I've still got a chance then. My plan has been to focus on kanji, vocab and grammar in the first half of the year. Then modify my study habits to include more listening and reading comprehension in the 2nd half of the year. We'll see how it goes in December!
2015 JLPT N3 Thread - Hinsudesu - 2015-05-29
I have been using the graded reader series from Ask Digital (http://www.ask-books.com/tadoku/) and tadoku.org. I have gone through the level 4 books and I think they are in the low end of the N3 level. Definitely not between N3 and N2 as their own guide suggests. They are good for increasing reading speed and become better at keeping up your concentration on Japanese for a longer period. In addition, some of the stories are also enjoyable. I just saw that tadoku.org have added a list of books not published by them sorted according to their grading system. It includes a lot of level 5 books which should be closer to N3. Maybe that list could be valuable to use too?
Recently I have begun using the Shin Kanzen Master N3 reading book. I find the level to be pretty spot on, compared to how I remember the December test (and it should be – the book is designed for N3 reading….). In addition I find it beneficial to use as the text are of the same type as you will also find on the test (i.e. memos, essay and opinions, letters, forms and instructions). The ISBN is 978-4-88319-671-5.
2015 JLPT N3 Thread - EratiK - 2015-05-29
yogert909 Wrote:EratiK, since you highlighted your preparations for the test, may I ask how well it prepared you for test day?Actually that was just my preparations for the reading section. My biggest preparation for the test day was failing it a couple of years before. Not the best method, since I didn't have the level, I didn't prepare, it was my first time taking a JLPT, and I never did full mock tests like I see people doing here. But I felt like taking it at the time and I don't regret it.
Anyway the lesson to that is you have to reduce as much as you can the anxiety factor linked to new experiences. Which implies:
- taking full mock tests: common sense, but important because in particular it shows you not to be fazed by the reading section, which has longer and longer texts and then a couple of short ones hidden behind. On my second try, I didn't even read the longest text but still passed (note: reading is my weakest skill so it might be different for others, but it seems everyone more or less has to rush through this section).
- scouting the test area (if you can): knowing how you'll get there is different from actually going there. Once you get a feel for the place and know where things are (rest places, bathrooms...) it's smooth sailing.
2015 JLPT N3 Thread - RawToast - 2015-05-29
Hinsudesu Wrote:I just saw that tadoku.org have added a list of books not published by them sorted according to their grading system.Is this the list?
http://tadoku.org/learners/book_ja/reference
I still have my level 1 readers from when I did N5 and I found them rather expensive for what you get. So it would be nice to try some alternative 'graded' materials.
These look interesting:
http://japanesegradedreaders.com/#.UhWbtc4whMU.facebook
I don't have an iPad mind
2015 JLPT N3 Thread - Hinsudesu - 2015-05-29
RawToast Wrote:Is this the list?Yes, that's the list. I've noticed that some of the material is mangas.
http://tadoku.org/learners/book_ja/reference
I managed to get my graded readers a bit cheaper because I bought them together with a bunch of other books from amazon.co.jp. But I agree that they are somewhat expensive. The books form the recommended list probably gives you more pages for the same money. I just really wanted to something to read (I began at level 2) and then I stuck with the series. I should sell mine on eBay
2015 JLPT N3 Thread - ariariari - 2015-05-31
Well, it's the end of the May. So I thought I'd post an update:
In terms of Anki stats:
Compared to the end of April:
mature grammar cards: 345 (today) - 315 (end of April) = +30
mature kanji cards: 532 (today) - 446 (end of April) = +86
mature vocab cards: 3,882 (today) - 3,710 (end of April) = +172
Compared to January 20 (my earliest record for 2015):
mature grammar cards: 345 (today) - 208 (1/20) = +137
mature kanji cards: 532 (today) - 478 mature (1/20) = +54
mature vocab cards:3,882 (today) - 3,246 (1/20) = +636
What went well in April:
Well, at the end of April I noted that I switched my Kanji deck to be kanji->definition, and said that I expected to see a large jump in mature Kanji kards this month. It looks like I was right about that. I still have 367 kanji that anki categorizes as "young and learn", and I expect a bunch of those to move over to mature in June as well.
I also did a lot of reading NHK news articles outloud with native speakers, and that helped my overall Japanese level immeasurably. It was also a lot of fun.
What I want to work on in May:
This is actually the first time in a long time that I let my JOI sessions expire without buying more lessons immediately. I did this because I want to spend more time working thru my N3 Kanji book. At this point I have only finished 第１部（第１回〜第４回）. I also want to add more vocab that I get from NHK Easy News. It's hard to focus on that as well as the lessons - I just don't have enough time in the week for it all.
2015 JLPT N3 Thread - RawToast - 2015-06-01
I can only compare with mid-April:
Sentence Cards:
Mature Cards: 1449 (1101) +348
Young&Learn: 313 (310) Looks like I am adding similar amounts of cards xD
Kanji Stats:
608 total unique kanji. (519) +89
Kanji Jouyou levels:
Grade 1: 66 of 80 (82.5%). (62) +4
Grade 2: 122 of 160 (76.2%). (108) +12
Grade 3: 111 of 200 (55.0%). (94) +17
Grade 4: 88 of 200 (44.0%). (72) +16
Grade 5: 55 of 185 (29.7%). (48) +7
Grade 6: 53 of 181 (29.3%). (?) +?
What went well
Working away means I now have a 50 minute commute on which to do reviews. I can quite happily stick to +15 new cards without worry about workload, as there's nothing else to do on the train! My weekend lessons on iTalki are going well
I now have 600+ kanji covered in my cards, which is similar to the N3 test specification. Of course, my cards are not completely focussed on the test -- so I expect this count to continue to increase!
What didn't go well
Commuting tires me out. I had to cancel a lesson last week as I just wanted to sleep! I find I get little form lessons when I am tired, so I may have to stop mid-week lessons (or cut down).
What I want to work on in June
Well, there's another iTalki challenge and I've booked my 12 hours of lessons to get the 300ITC
I've started to add i+1 cards from Erin's Challenge to mix things up. Eventually, I'll start using my subs2srs decks -- but I'd like to be further along before I start that.
I'd like to finish off any JLPT4 (N5) tagged i+1 cards if I can this month.
2015 JLPT N3 Thread - RawToast - 2015-06-02
Quote:Well, at the end of April I noted that I switched my Kanji deck to be kanji->definition, and said that I expected to see a large jump in mature Kanji kards this month. It looks like I was right about that. I still have 367 kanji that anki categorizes as "young and learn", and I expect a bunch of those to move over to mature in June as well.I found doing keyword -> kanji (drawn on screen) worked incredibly well for me; however, it was really easy to create a new deck and complete the cards the month before the test. It made answering the 'choose the correct kanji' questions a doddle.
Quote:mature vocab cards: 3,882 (today) - 3,710 (end of April) = +172I guess this puts you at 1941? That's half (or 60%) way depending on whose estimates you use!
2015 JLPT N3 Thread - yogert909 - 2015-06-02
(April 30) compared to Today - June 2:
sentences: (2312) - same = 0 new
unique vocab: (2329) - same = 0 new
grammar: (448) - same = 0 new
kanji: 787 - (366) = 421
June Goals:
- Audio only vocab cards.
- Vocab cards without furigana.
- Add the last 87 N3 vocab words
July & beyond:
- NHK easy
- Finish Tae Kim
- Start taking practice tests
- Reading parallel texts
- Listening practice (podcasts, subs2srs)
I added my last batch of N3 kanji yesterday and I couldn't be happier. Now I just need to mature them.. I have been heavily relying on furigana for my vocabulary cards, so I need to add kanji only cards to learn the kanji readings. The bits of reading I've attempted makes me think this will go relatively fast since I can guess the reading of a number of kanji, but learning 1000's of readings is still going to take a month or two. Ditto with the audio only cards - I can probably fly through them with pretty good accuracy, but it' still going to take some time. The good news is that if things go as quickly as I'm hoping, I'll finally have the beginnings of a useful set of skills to actually enjoy things japanese.
I'm still undecided if I'll actually take the actual JLPT test in December, but my confidence in passing will be the main consideration. It's not like there's any real reason I need to take the test, but studying for it is forcing me to round out my skills and focus on things I've neglected - so that's a reason in itself to study for it. It will also be nice to simply test my skills on a known benchmark. The N3 level has long been the level that I've considered the beginning actual useful Japanese.
2015 JLPT N3 Thread - ariariari - 2015-06-02
RawToast Wrote:And if you count the "young + learn" (728) and "suspended + buried" (486) I'm even farther. But even then, I still encounter a lot of words in NHK Easy News that are new to me.Quote:mature vocab cards: 3,882 (today) - 3,710 (end of April) = +172I guess this puts you at 1941? That's half (or 60%) way depending on whose estimates you use!
2015 JLPT N3 Thread - RawToast - 2015-06-04
You'll be picking up new vocab from NHK Easy for a while! There was a link on reddit of a site that stored the vocabulary used and it came to around 5000 words used over month of articles.
Quote:I have been heavily relying on furigana for my vocabulary cards, so I need to add kanji only cards to learn the kanji readings. The bits of reading I've attempted makes me think this will go relatively fast since I can guess the reading of a number of kanji, but learning 1000's of readings is still going to take a month or two. Ditto with the audio only cards - I can probably fly through them with pretty good accuracy, but it' still going to take some time.At one point I had cards like that. It will be easier to run through the readings cards, but there will still be cards that give you trouble.
2015 JLPT N3 Thread - yogert909 - 2015-06-04
RawToast Wrote:You'll be picking up new vocab from NHK Easy for a while! There was a link on reddit of a site that stored the vocabulary used and it came to around 5000 words used over month of articles.Here is a NHK easy frequency list I made if anyone is interested. The corpus is pretty much the entire year of 2013 - over 900 articles. The list totals out to around 8500 words, but only about 3300 are used more than 4 times. I've been meaning to subtract all the core words and turn the top few hundreds of words into an anki deck from it but haven't done that yet...
2015 JLPT N3 Thread - anotherjohn - 2015-06-04
yogert909 Wrote:Here is a NHK easy frequency list I made if anyone is interested.Surprising to see 鋳る and 色分け in the top 10 ...
2015 JLPT N3 Thread - RawToast - 2015-06-05
I tried reading some childrens stores on Hukumesume last night with a tutor and was suprised at the difficulty in comparison to NHK Easy. I usually have no problems reading NHK Easy articles, just a few new words each time (usually place names or government departments).
So, whilst NHK Easy is a valid resource -- and by all means use it -- make sure you branch out and try some other reading materials.
2015 JLPT N3 Thread - ariariari - 2015-06-10
Hello N3 world. 10 days into the month, posting an update.
My plan for stopping lessons to focus on my kanji book has been moderately successful. While I definitely stopped lessons, I can't say that I really made *too* much progress in my book. Work has been very busy - that's part of it. The other is that my daily anki reps still take a lot of time. It looks like in the last week I averaged about 40 minutes / day in anki, and the week before that about 50 minutes / day. Anki is a truly amazing programing - My number of mature cards has actually still increased, despite me not adding much new material!
Compared to the end of May:
mature grammar cards: 350 (today) - 345 (end of May) = +5
mature kanji cards: 561 (today) - 532 (end of May) = +29
mature vocab cards: 3,924 (today) - 3,882 (end of May) = +42
So it looks like I'm still riding that kanji wave from changing that deck to be recognition. I'm kinda surprised that the vocab increased so much - mentally I kinda focus on all the leeches that get suspended, so I always expect that number to decrease
It will be a nice milestone when I hit 4k mature vocab cards, and when I hit 600 mature kanji cards.
2015 JLPT N3 Thread - ariariari - 2015-06-10
One last update: Just finished chapter 5 of the kanji book. There was a lot of vocab in that chapter. Looking ahead chapter 6 has a similar amount, though I already know almost half of 'em. And chapter 7 has a tiny amount (only 16). So it looks like this month I'll be able to knock out several chapters of this book.
2015 JLPT N3 Thread - redshoulder - 2015-06-12
Going through some test papers, i have a question regarding question 18.
http://jlptbootcamp.com/JEES-tests/N3-mondai-notes.pdf
Answer book says answer 3 is correct, my question is why answer 1 is also not correct?
thanks
2015 JLPT N3 Thread - zx573 - 2015-06-12
redshoulder Wrote:Going through some test papers, i have a question regarding question 18.Yurina wants to take 日本語 and 漢字 classes. Therefore, any class that includes options 1 (会話A) and 2 (会話B) are automatically out. Since answer 1 is options (1) and (6) and answer 2 is options (2) and (5), that means that answers 1 and 2 are automatically out because they include 会話 classes.
http://jlptbootcamp.com/JEES-tests/N3-mondai-notes.pdf
Answer book says answer 3 is correct, my question is why answer 1 is also not correct?
thanks
You'll want to be more careful when looking over charts on the test because that would be an easy way to lose points.
Edit: Typo'd 会話 badly. Fixed.
2015 JLPT N3 Thread - Vempele - 2015-06-13
It says below that people taking a 漢字 class should also take a 日本語 class.
Quote:Yurina wants to take 日本語 and 漢字 classes.I think she just wants to study 日本語 the language and 漢字 the characters, rather than take any specific classes.
2015 JLPT N3 Thread - redshoulder - 2015-06-15
thanks, I did not notice the different categories in the table. I tend to examine things too fast before answering questions.
2015 JLPT N3 Thread - ariariari - 2015-06-16
Halfway thru the month of June.
Compared to the end of May:
mature grammar cards: 354 (today) - 345 (end of May) = +9
mature kanji cards: 576 (today) - 532 (end of May) = +44
mature vocab cards: 3,942 (today) - 3,882 (end of May) = +60
It's nice to see the progress because I've felt like Japanese has fallen by the wayside for me recently. Work has been a big focus, and I stopped taking lessons so I could focus on my kanji book.
The combination has made things feel slow and sapped my motivation a bit. Last night I went to my conversation group for the first time in several weeks and read an NHK Easy News article out loud which was nice. I also discussed what was going on in my worklife with one of my Japanese friends who regularly attends the group. I haven't been reading too much recently either.
2015 JLPT N3 Thread - yogert909 - 2015-06-16
At least you have more and more cards maturing ...and another 20 days or so and you'll be over 4k in your vocab. That's progress!
2015 JLPT N3 Thread - ariariari - 2015-06-16
yogert909 Wrote:At least you have more and more cards maturing ...and another 20 days or so and you'll be over 4k in your vocab. That's progress!Thanks for the support dude. Yeah, the increase is amazing, isn't it? I totally feel preoccupied, and that I've just been going thru the motions with my Japanese studies lately. It's really a testament to anki and the power of srs in my opinion.
2015 JLPT N3 Thread - yogert909 - 2015-06-16
ariariari Wrote:I totally feel preoccupied, and that I've just been going thru the motions with my Japanese studies lately. It's really a testament to anki and the power of srs in my opinion.I agree. I can't wait till those 400 some kanji that I added about a month ago start maturing.
I actually like putting things on autopilot for a while. As long as I keep up with my reviews and not think too hard about what I'm doing, the days melt away while things cement more and more into my brain. A month or so later, I start thinking that I'm not getting anywhere but then I realize that a lot of things that didn't make sense previously suddenly make sense.
It's possible we even get better without studying as this guy theorizes - you need a suitable incubation period before you can use what you learn.
2015 JLPT N3 Thread - ariariari - 2015-06-24
@yogert909 that link was hilarious.
I thought I'd share some news on my side. I've mentioned before how I started bringing NHK Easy articles to my conversation group and reading them out loud. Well, I recently started printing out the articles without furigana and it has become sooo much more challenging. But also pretty cool! It takes more time to learn the vocabulary cold enough to do that, but I enjoy the challenge.
I'm just about ready to start taking lessons on JOI again. But I think I want to finish section 2 of my kanji book completely first, and that should happen by the end of the month.
I think that next month I'll make NHK less of a priority, and focus on grammar via JOI and kanji and vocab thru my kanji book instead.