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+--- Thread: 2011 JLPT study thread (/thread-6834.html)
2011 JLPT study thread - deign - 2011-06-18
Does anyone know where I can find the last N3 past exams papers?? Can only find the answer sheet on the net...
2011 JLPT study thread - Shakunatz - 2011-06-18
rich_f Wrote:Anybody else feeling the pressure yet?I do
A week ago I panicked but then I found a good preparatory book (just 読解) and somehow I managed to calm myself down.rich_f Wrote:Never been there, so I don't know my way around.I'm in the same position but a British friend of mine is going to tell me what I *should* to go to see the real London.
I know you meant something more practical like medication and so. However I think that sightseeing is very important in these occasion as it's the best way not to think "OMG tomorrow I have JLPT!".
rich_f Wrote:Even the Home Office, which is responsible for [...]I know what you mean. When you deal with other countries there *is always* a huge (bureaucratic) wall whose only purpose is to make easy things complicated. Don't give up and remember that people you'll find at the airport are human like you, generally if you speak to them kindly there should not be problem.
rich_f Wrote:So at some point, maybe I'll be able to get back to studying. I hope.Don't worry you'll be able to get back studying soon, it's just a matter of mood ^.^/
Anyway, When you'll be in London? I'm looking for buddies in London. I know myself. I won't be able to focus on the exam ^.^; So..I'll just bring with me some notes, my i-touch (anki) and some Japanese book.
2011 JLPT study thread - fugu68 - 2011-06-18
rich_f Wrote:As just one example: apparently, I am the first person to ever travel to the UK with medication, based on the responses I got from many stunned government employees when I asked them the most basic of questions. Even the Home Office, which is responsible for drug law enforcement, claimed not to know *anything* about the rules about bringing prescription medication into the country, *even though they have a list of guidelines for bringing prescription medication into the country on their website.* So frustrating, it made me want to chew my own head off. I wound up wasting 3 days and I never did get a straight answer. Bah.http://www.travellingtoengland.co.uk/services/prescription_drugs.htm may have some useful info for you, but it is annoying that there is nothing on the official site. Bringing a copy of your prescription seems a good idea though.
So at some point, maybe I'll be able to get back to studying. I hope.
How are you getting to the test site? Engineering works are often carried out on the rail network on Sundays in the UK, and I would allow extra time (and possibly have an alternative route) if you are going by public transport.
2011 JLPT study thread - caivano - 2011-06-18
rich_f Wrote:Getting to around the two-week point before the July 3rd test. Anybody else feeling the pressure yet?Yup! I had a look at some questions for the first time today and got a shock >< Was gonna try and pass without any special test study but the grammar had me stumped way too many times so just bought some practice books. Hopefully can get it down in the next 2 weeks..
2011 JLPT study thread - rich_f - 2011-06-19
I picked a hotel on the Piccadilly line, so I lucked out. (Base2Stay.) The Piccadilly line will be in operation on the Sunday of the test according to the maintenance site, so I just have to take it from my hotel at Earl's Court in Kensington to the site near King's Cross/St. Pancras. If not, I'll take a cab. It's about 4 miles to the test site from my hotel, so I'm not going to get creative at the last minute.
I plan on arriving on Wednesday morning, to give me enough time to get over the West->East 時差ぼけ in time for Sunday, and to give me some time to study in peace and quiet. The map I picked up has libraries marked on it, just in case my hotel is loud. (Although I doubt that.)
Study-wise, I've been dumping a lot of old Kanzen Master 3 grammar questions into my Anki deck, because a lot of the N2 grammar was like some sadistic mix of 2級 and old 3級 grammar. I'm going to try to get the old KM2 grammar questions in there too before I leave. We'll see. >_>a (Gogo OCR.)
My strategy is to get as many points as is humanly possible on grammar and listening, and do as well as I can on reading. I know that reading is my weak point, so I'm going to try to answer as many questions correctly as I can, and just try not to flunk the section. (Not exactly a strategy brimming with confidence, huh?)
I'll do some sightseeing after the test. I've planned to stay a week after. Might as well, since I'm coming all the way over. (The last time my family was in the UK was after we got tossed out of there after Culloden and got shipped off to "the colonies." Well, the choice was either emigrate or go to prison...)
2011 JLPT study thread - julianjalapeno - 2011-06-19
Yesterday I took the N1 practice test that the JLPT offers in Japan. Unlike the N2 模擬試験 I took last year that was about half the length of the actual test, this one was nearly the full length. The listening section was halved, but the other part was a staggering 100 minutes (the real test is 110).
I was pleased to see that there werent too many tricky surprises and the grammar section looked a lot more like the old test where you could memorize grammar points and plug them in.
The reading was longer than I had anticipated. 11 readings, 4 about half a page and 7 that were full pages each. Brutal. I was worried about taking too much time because I didnt have a watch and couldnt guage how I was doing so I punched through it fast (what kind of college classroom doesnt have a damn clock on the wall?) I ended up finishing with like 20 minutes remaining, so in the real deal I think I`ll slow down a bit. A guy in front of me only got through half of the reading questions!
Also kind of surprising was a composition section they asked us to do. They had us write an essay about one of four topics. Theyre going to correct our papers and email them to us, which is neat. But hurry up and pass the test now before they incorporate this into the real one!
2011 JLPT study thread - kitakitsune - 2011-06-19
Interesting news about the writing section. Thanks for posting that.
2011 JLPT study thread - radical_tyro - 2011-06-20
yeah, thanks for sharing. reading sounds rough. i gotta work harder on that...
2011 JLPT study thread - rich_f - 2011-06-20
London folks-- more joy-- Tube strikes planned the week before the test:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-13829767
Dammit, they're striking the day I arrive. -_- Aaaaaagh!
2011 JLPT study thread - mutley - 2011-06-20
That seems to match the huge amount of reading there was in the december exam for N1. For the grammar, kanji, vocab, reading paper I'd guess I probably spent about 2/3 to 3/4 of my time on the reading.
So my advice would basically be lots of reading practice, and maybe even do some warm up reading the morning of the exam to get your head in the right frame of mind.
It's interesting to see that they added a writing section. I wonder if they're intending to add it into the real exam or were just interested in finding out the writing level of some of the people taking the test.
2011 JLPT study thread - akimoto - 2011-06-20
I'm in SF prepping for JLPTN1 in the winter. I just took an old JLPT1 and my weakest area is going from kana to kanji in the kanji/tango section (questions like: here is one word in kana, and here are four other words in kana - which option shares a kanji with the example word).
Does anyone have any good study advice for going kana to kanji? Otherwise my kanji level is absurd - I finished RTK3 two years ago and I read 4 Yomiuri/Asahi editorials a day, and I casually read books.
I barely missed passing last year (my reading was way slow, so I've been focusing on that since January) and this year I want to knock it out of the park.
2011 JLPT study thread - mutley - 2011-06-20
Those questions are maybe more related to vocab knowledge than kanji knowledge. If you don't know the word then it's hard to work out which kanji it is written with. (As opposed to simple kanji reading questions where you can guess the reading and meaning even if you've never seen the word before.)
I guess possible ways to practice might be using some of the kanken revision books, or reading material written for young Japanese kids mostly in kana and re-writing it using appropriate kanji.
2011 JLPT study thread - Javizy - 2011-06-20
I thought those ones were pretty easy, as long as you know the word, like Mutley said. It's just like when you type using an IME; you can quickly select the right one because you recognise it as the right word. The test gives you other hints by giving you options that are read differently, or have kanji that are completely out of context. The questions that ask you to match kana to kana based on the context are pretty tricky though.
2011 JLPT study thread - julianjalapeno - 2011-06-20
akimoto Wrote:I'm in SF prepping for JLPTN1 in the winter. I just took an old JLPT1 and my weakest area is going from kana to kanji in the kanji/tango section (questions like: here is one word in kana, and here are four other words in kana - which option shares a kanji with the example word).Lucky for you, those questions are no longer on the exam.
The kanji section has been neutered from the old format and now all you really need to know for kanji are the readings. The rest is vocabulary knowledge, like what word goes in the blank, what word has the same meaning as the underlined word in the passage, and what sentence uses the given word correctly.
Sucks for me, kanji is far and away my strong point, its the only section I ace. The rest...well...is bad news bears.
2011 JLPT study thread - rich_f - 2011-06-23
Tube strikes are off, YAY.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-13896546
One less thing to worry about. Now back to studying and preparing to flee to the UK. Can't wait for those "enhanced security procedures for people traveling to the UK" from the good ol' TSA. Whee.
2011 JLPT study thread - Guoguodi - 2011-06-28
Not sure if this has been discussed before, but what do people think of the scaling system adopted last year? Looking at the statistics on the JLPT website and the various data on their site, the pass rate figures look particularly nasty. Statistically, any random person taking the N1 test outside Japan had a 70% chance of failing it. Brutal.
Am I correct in understanding that the reported score (out of 180) is not a raw score at all, but rather simply a "marker" that if you check their cumulative graphs, you can look up your actual percentile standing? In other words, raw score is no longer relevant, and what you're really being measured on is your language ability relative to everyone else? If that's the case I wonder why they don't just tell you straight up: you're in the Xth percentile, and therefore you pass/fail. I also wonder whether they're setting up the curve so that roughly 60% of all test takers will fail the test.
It seems that the main consequence of this scaled score system is that one's score is no longer tied directly to how difficult that year's paper is (i.e. the difficulty of the actual test itself), which was a potential flaw of the old system where different years' papers could ostensibly vary widely in difficulty level. Now it's more about how well you did in comparison to everyone else -- if you're in the top 40% of your year's cohort in "ability", then you can be confident that you'll pass.
So in essence, I imagine it's like a bell curve where each year, only the people on the right half of the curve are allowed to pass the test (of that level), and that's by design.
Further reading on the theory behind scaled scoring systems: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Item_response_theory
2011 JLPT study thread - zigmonty - 2011-06-28
70% of the people sitting the test don't deserve to pass it.
2011 JLPT study thread - dizmox - 2011-07-01
So, it's the campus near King's Cross station right? There isn't any disruption to the tube then, is there? I think it's just Tottenham Court Road on the Northern Line that's closed...
2011 JLPT study thread - mezbup - 2011-07-01
N1 in about 24 hours for me!
2011 JLPT study thread - rich_f - 2011-07-01
@dizmox-- yeah, it's the one near King's Cross/St. Pancras. Shakunatz and I checked it out today, since it's both of our first times in London. It's right there on Vernon Rise, near Penton Rise. It shows up nicely in Google Maps.
Not sure about which lines are going to be disrupted on Sunday for sure, check the Transport for London website.
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/livetravelnews/planned-works/calendar/default.aspx
Looks like Circle, District, Hammersmith, Jubilee, Metropolitan and Victoria lines will have some sorts of planned interruptions this weekend in various places. Check the website for details.
EDIT: Actually, this link is even better:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/livetravelnews/realtime/tube/default.html
It shows the live updates to all the lines, and will give you a map showing which lines aren't running, and will show you the various closures if you click the planned closures link.
2011 JLPT study thread - nest0r - 2011-07-01
Just use parkour to get there. That's how Londoners do it. I saw it on a video.
2011 JLPT study thread - rich_f - 2011-07-02
Good luck to everyone later today/tomorrow on the test. Here's hoping there are no nasty surprises.
2011 JLPT study thread - Morrolan - 2011-07-02
Ditto. It's go time.
2011 JLPT study thread - IceCream - 2011-07-02
Go to bed!!! lol!
glgl
2011 JLPT study thread - Tzadeck - 2011-07-02
I'm off in about an hour or so. Taking N1 at 京大^^
Didn't study, so I'mma fail. But oh well, it'll be an expensive practice test I guess.