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+--- Thread: How to prepare for JLPT 2級 by December? (/thread-3353.html)
How to prepare for JLPT 2級 by December? - mezbup - 2009-10-30
Jarvik7 Wrote:It needs to be something like a 10kyuu system, where getting 1kyuu would mean you are awesome at Japanese instead of minimum-acceptable-level for a business environment. Ideally there would be production components as well, but that would be impossible with how many people take the test every year.What about the Nihongo Kentei?
How to prepare for JLPT 2級 by December? - Nukemarine - 2009-10-31
Hmm, a 10kyuu system. Sounds doable. Follow the Kentei set-up, but at level 4kyuu through 1kyuu that tests production skills, one would charge more for the tests to justify the costs in testing and grading.
The DLPT (Defense Language Proficiency Test) does something where the Level 1 though 3 are based on an online test (same test, just how well you do determines your level). Level 4 and 5 tests can be taken only by those that achieve level 3. In addition, passing the reading/listening portion of Level 4 or 5 allows you to schedule a speaking assessment with an DLPT employee.
Now, I don't know how a Japanese corporation can reasonably offer a speaking or writing assessment. Still, it makes since to offer it up only to those that pass the easier to administer reading/listening portion for a nominal fee.
Employers seeing 1st Kyuu Listening, 1st Kyuu Reading, 1st Kyuu Speaking are bound to put that guy or gal at the top.
How to prepare for JLPT 2級 by December? - mezbup - 2009-11-04
Ok so I just started working through the 2kyuu grammar today. I'm loving it! I'm using the PDF of KM2kyuu that I have but no using it's example sentences, I'm just highlighting all the points it tells me I need to now then searching them in the dictionary of grammar deck and un-suspending what I need. It's working wonders for my understand of new grammar points because it has loads of example sentences so I can pick ones which I know the vocab for (or will be easy to learn) and because it has a translation I can easily pick out how the grammar point modifies the sentence.
If I can get all the grammar points down before the test I think I can definitely pass.
How to prepare for JLPT 2級 by December? - coverup - 2009-11-04
Do you already know most of the vocab? That's probably more important imho...
How to prepare for JLPT 2級 by December? - mezbup - 2009-11-05
I've just finished KO2001 plus I pick up a lot of new vocab through my KanKen study. I decided since its 1 month before the test, I have 7 days to learn 193 grammar points so at 27 a days it's pretty do-able. Then 21 days to let them sink into my memory. I should be alright
How to prepare for JLPT 2級 by December? - gyuujuice - 2010-03-16
My goal is to get an 80% on the 2級 this year but I have never taken a JLPT.
I need to take the JLPT this December and the next summer (Hopefully 1 by then) for college credit so I can test out and get a major before I go to my Uni. (I might take a year off before starting college.)
1) I bought a packet that contains 3 practice tests with answers and I saw a website earlier that gives an example test for the NJLPT.
2) I finished RTK but I am still working through it. (I want a 90% retention rate)
3) I just finished all the vocabulary in Genki 1 because I have a class starting next month; sadly that's the highest level. I am working on level 2. (I need high-school credit to graduate so might as well get an A.)
4) I plan on restarting Core2000 + 6000 on smartfm. I will put the sentences into anki with my notes. (How can I add the audio? Please help me!)
5) Someone recommended 完全 Master (grammar) I think I will enter that into Anki as well.
6）Anki Tae kim
7) AJATT sentence mining for the remaining year while:
できるだけ、日本語を聞いて、読んで、話してみます。(Lang-8 for example.)
I feel like I could pass the JLPT 3 (NJLPT4) without oo much difficulty. (I may be a bit dotty in vocabulary but in terms of grammar, kanji and listening I am OK.)
出来る可能と思いますか？勧めを教えてくくれてください！
宜しくお願いします！
How to prepare for JLPT 2級 by December? - Javizy - 2010-03-16
gyuujuice Wrote:5) Someone recommended 完全 Master (grammar) I think I will enter that into Anki as well.Check the group study forum. You might be able to save yourself a lot of typing.
How to prepare for JLPT 2級 by December? - rich_f - 2010-03-16
Apologies for the wall of text. -_-
Yeah, I had to skip the 2級 again this year due to outside circumstances-- it got in the way of studying, and there just was no chance in hell of me passing, so I didn't waste the travel money.
I'm going to a weekly review class at the NC Japan center in Raleigh that's been really useful. We meet for 2 hours a week and go over grammar, listening drills, reading drills, and kanji. It's useful in that keeps me on track and on pace to make sure I'm ready for the exam in December, and it's a good weekly kick in the pants in case I start to fall off on the self-study wagon.
You might want to look around and see if there's something similar in your local area. (May not be, but ask around.) I can ask questions about the grammar points we go over, so it's useful. KM is a good series, but it's not very good at explaining things. There's not a ridiculous amount of outside work, because we already have a lot of studying to do.
Right now we're plowing through Kanzen Master 2級 grammar. We're also using Intermediate Kanji Book, (which is quite a step up in difficulty from the Basic Kanji Book series) but I just use it for the exercises. I'm still doing KO book 2 on my own.
Here are a couple of other books for grammar that are kind of interesting. The first one also has a separate workbook you can buy with separate exercises. Both series are broken down in the "Learn all the grammar in 8-9 weeks" method, where you learn 4-5 grammar points a day, 5 days a week, then have 2 days to review the week's learning. Repeat for 8-9 weeks and cover roughly the same amount of grammar as in KM2. Unlike KM2, these books both have terse EN/KOR/CHN explanations of the grammar.
Still not adequate depth, IMO. You should probably look up the grammar points elsewhere, like a good grammar dictionary (If you like the Japan times series-- you'll need all 3 volumes to look it all up... except the bits not in there...) to truly grok it in depth. The どんなとき dictionary has it all.
Preparation for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test 45日間で基礎からわかる日本語能力試験対策2級文法 ISBN: 978-4-384-05570-2 1200 yen (9 Week course with exercises) This one has exercises after each day, but not at the end of the week.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%E7%89%B9%E5%88%A5%3A%E6%96%87%E7%8C%AE%E8%B3%87%E6%96%99&isbn=9784384055702
Exercises for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test 解けば解くほど実践力がアップする日本語能力試験対策2級文法ドリル ISBN: 978-4-384-05571-9 950 yen (Workbook with extra exercises for first book.) Exercises are all at the end of each "week," so they cover 20-25 grammar points at a time. Also 3 sets of cumulative problem sets to work on.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%E7%89%B9%E5%88%A5%3A%E6%96%87%E7%8C%AE%E8%B3%87%E6%96%99&isbn=9784384055719
日本語総まとめ問題集 [2級文法編] ISBN 978-4-87217-615-5 1200 yen. This is a similar kind of series, and is supposed to cover the 2級 grammar in 8 weeks. One book, exercises every day, then every week a review. So it's somewhat more efficient than the other two. Not sure if I'd say it has more or less exercises, tho.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%E7%89%B9%E5%88%A5%3A%E6%96%87%E7%8C%AE%E8%B3%87%E6%96%99&isbn=9784872176155
Of course, they're adding some weird new kinds of questions to the JLPT, but I have no clue how to prepare for those. You're kind of on your own for those.
My plan is to finish KM2 in the next couple of months, then go through those 3 books as a review of sorts. I've already got a chunk of KM2 in Anki, the trick is figuring out how to set up Cloze patterns to quiz myself. I'll need to switch things up a bit.
How to prepare for JLPT 2級 by December? - gyuujuice - 2010-03-17
Thank you for the material! (Don't apologize! It's extremely helpful!)
As long as I understand the basics of the test and can communicate and comprehend Japanese it shouldn't be too different.
I've seen a lot of review of どんなとき and I like the sound of it.
"Check the group study forum. You might be able to save yourself a lot of typing."
This isn't the study group forum? すみません! (I just checked anki and there are multiple versions of 完全マスター allready typed out.)
How to prepare for JLPT 2級 by December? - gyuujuice - 2010-03-17
rich_fさま、
http://www.amazon.co.jp/どんな時どう使う-日本語表現文型500―日本語能力試験1・2級対応-アルクの日本語テキスト-友松-悦子/dp/4872345894/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268852142&sr=1-2
I'm sorry to double post but there are multiple editions of the book どんなとき. I think this is the one you were referring to.
How to prepare for JLPT 2級 by December? - rich_f - 2010-03-17
Actually, I meant this one:
http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%81%A9%E3%82%93%E3%81%AA%E6%99%82%E3%81%A9%E3%81%86%E4%BD%BF%E3%81%86-%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E%E8%A1%A8%E7%8F%BE%E6%96%87%E5%9E%8B%E8%BE%9E%E5%85%B8-%E5%8F%8B%E6%9D%BE-%E6%82%A6%E5%AD%90/dp/4757412355/ref=pd_sim_b_4
It's a grammar dictionary based on all of the どんなとき books, and covers a few definitions of grammar that the ADBJG series of books seem to miss. The definitions are in JP/EN/KOR/CHN, with example sentences. You look up definitions in Japanese (あーいーうーえーお） order. Entries are a little sparse compared to the ADBJG series, but you get everything in one book.
The どんなとき book you linked to is a pretty good grammar review book, but I prefer the books I listed in the other post, to be honest. The book you linked comes with a workbook that you'll need if you want any kind of exercises to work on. There are exercises in the main book, but they're few and far between. Also, the explanations are all in JP. No EN help. So if you need any hand-holding, you'll need a good grammar dictionary.
The workbook is the book with the red stripe across the bottom of the cover and 500 in the title as well. It pops up first in the list of recommended books, in the little strip of books that shows up on the amazon page.
Those books break down the grammar by function, and list all the various bits of grammar that do the same thing, which is nice, but they don't have any sort of pacing to them. And having anywhere from 4-14 different grammar constructions in your head that all mean the same thing, all at the same time, can get confusing.
How to prepare for JLPT 2級 by December? - gyuujuice - 2010-03-17
Oh, I see. ^__^'
Very solid advice!
I guess the more the book is written in Japanese the more I will practice. I can always ask for help if I come across something I don't understand.
"that all mean the same thing"-- That's how I have been learning grammar so I don't think this is a big issue but pacing might be.
Has anyone used this book before?
http://www.amazon.co.jp/日本語文型辞典-グループジャマシイ/dp/4874241549/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b
It seems quite the popular book.
How to prepare for JLPT 2級 by December? - pm215 - 2010-03-17
Quote:Has anyone used this book before?Yes, I have and quite like that one (originally recommended to me by my Japanese teacher). The explanations are in Japanese, and are usually a paragraph or two long. There are plenty of example sentences for each point. I think it covers more grammar items than the どんあ時 book rich_f suggests (looking at that on Amazon it has 13 entries in its index under あ where 日本語文型辞典 has 38, for instance).
(日本語文型辞典)
日本語文型辞典 is a reference book, so it's in strict alpha order (although one of the indexes does categorise by function), and reference is mostly what I use it for (having learned most of my JLPT2 grammar in a class environment). I'm not sure how well it would work for trying to self-study from but anything's better than kanzen master :-)
How to prepare for JLPT 2級 by December? - rich_f - 2010-03-17
Looks impressive. I'm always on the lookout for something better.
I should have been a bit clearer about how I use Kanzen Master: I don't just go by the explanations in the book. I use other sources to review the grammar points we go over in it. Calling the explanations in KM "terse" is being generous. But the exercises are useful (and plentiful), as are the example sentences. (And all of it is Anki-bait.) But the explanations in KM lack the depth you'll need.
How to prepare for JLPT 2級 by December? - thurd - 2010-03-22
I've broken my preparations into two pieces:
1. JLPT3 by 夏休み. Already have vocab for this, so I'm just reviewing and learning grammar points. I'm not going to take the real test though (practice only).
2. JLPT2 by December. I'm doing vocab for this now and will learn grammar points after "doing" JLPT3.
This schedule gives me quite a bit of time to learn grammar and for vocabulary to sink in. For now reading practice comes from learning grammar (example sentences) and listening is covered by watching anime. I figure if audio from Neon Genesis Evangelion is used for JLPT1 just understanding anime should be enough for JLPT2.
I use KM3kyu for grammar/example sentences and 日本語基本文法辞典 for deeper explanation of grammar points (and even more example sentences).
I haven't seen a practice test but if they are similar to questions in KM3kyu then it should be a piece of cake, once you know a grammar rule well it is really easy to answer correctly.
How to prepare for JLPT 2級 by December? - mezbup - 2010-03-22
thurd Wrote:I figure if audio from Neon Genesis Evangelion is used for JLPT1 just understanding anime should be enough for JLPT2.That's where you'd be mistaken. Most of the questions follow the format of two people deciding what time to meet or what they're going to do or who's going to be participating or a hellish combination of all of the above. Also they throw around all possible options during the conversation and you've gotta keep your ears peeled for which one they decide to go for. So unless you watch anime about organising, planning and asking directions to the post office then I'd say it's not quite sufficient.
If I we're you I'd dl all the previous years listening questions and just put them on loop until you can understand them in your sleep. Not as fun but you ought to have the format of the questions down pretty well.
How to prepare for JLPT 2級 by December? - ocircle - 2010-03-22
It wasn't audio from eva -- it was a "radio drama" featuring two guys and one girl, who happened to be named asuka, but the voice actors were not the same. It'd probably cost the JLPT board way too much money to actually use copyrighted material anyway, so .. yeah.
Btw, most questions are not as easy as that.
Usually it's a long winded confusing discussion. In English, a typical question might be like this:
A: have you see Yamada san lately?
B: No, did something happen?
A: "Did something happen"? She's in her third trimester of pregnancy!
B: What? But didn't she just get married?
A: You should at least keep up with stuff like this.
B: Sorry, I've been so busy lately. the boss is giving me a hard time. He wants me to complete all of my projects by the end of the month.
A: What? that's awful! Why by the end of the month?
B: Well, I'm not sure...
Q: What happened?
A. Yamada discovered she is pregnant.
B. The woman discovered she is pregnant.
C. The woman learned Yamada is pregnant.
D. The woman is going to get fired.
How to prepare for JLPT 2級 by December? - rich_f - 2010-03-22
You forgot the part where they play the audio on a decrepit boombox circa 1997 with blown out speakers, so you have to first work on deciphering the Japanese version of Charlie Brown's Parents... oh, and they talk a little faster than you usually get on TV, too. (At least they seem to to me.) Fun stuff.
How to prepare for JLPT 2級 by December? - Evil_Dragon - 2010-03-22
thurd Wrote:I figure if audio from Neon Genesis Evangelion is used for JLPT1 just understanding anime should be enough for JLPT2.That was probably the easiest one they had in years. Chances are you won't be that lucky next time around.
How to prepare for JLPT 2級 by December? - Jarvik7 - 2010-03-22
rich_f Wrote:You forgot the part where they play the audio on a decrepit boombox circa 1997 with blown out speakers, so you have to first work on deciphering the Japanese version of Charlie Brown's Parents... oh, and they talk a little faster than you usually get on TV, too. (At least they seem to to me.) Fun stuff.Saying "1997" like it was a long time ago makes me feel old
At least pick a year in the 1980s.I've heard the horror stories about boom-boxes, but when I took both 1 & 2kyuu they had good in-ceiling sound systems. When I took J-TEST in ~2007 it was on a blown out tapedeck though.
How to prepare for JLPT 2級 by December? - thurd - 2010-03-22
ocircle Wrote:It wasn't audio from eva -- it was a "radio drama" featuring two guys and one girl, who happened to be named asuka, but the voice actors were not the same. It'd probably cost the JLPT board way too much money to actually use copyrighted material anyway, so .. yeah.I'm not a anime expert but I think this is straight from original show:
How to prepare for JLPT 2級 by December? - Jarvik7 - 2010-03-22
It is obviously meant to imply Eva, but it's not from Eva.
How to prepare for JLPT 2級 by December? - Evil_Dragon - 2010-03-22
thurd Wrote:I'm not a anime expert but I think this is straight from original show:Yeah.. Asuka sounds like she's in her thirties.
How to prepare for JLPT 2級 by December? - Nukemarine - 2010-03-22
Sometimes I think I should follow anime just so I can get all these references.
How to prepare for JLPT 2級 by December? - ocircle - 2010-03-22
the original audio question only had the dialogue and some light sound effects. There wasn't a background music or a picture to go with it.