My humble 2016 JLPT N3 thread

Here is an article I could that might help those who have only self studied in Japanese. I for one like this gauge better

An Alternative to JLPT Study Hours http://jlptbootcamp.com/2011/04/an-alter...udy-hours/

Quote:Can I take the JLPT N3?

In order to pass this test, you should be able to have lower intermediate conversations in Japanese. Ask yourself the following questions:

Can you talk to a sales person about something in a store and be able to manage your way through the main features of the item? (Note, I said ‘manage’ not perfectly understand.)
Are you able to read and/or figure out most of the things on the menu at a Japanese restaurant?
Can you read 1st and 2nd (school) year material with relative ease?
Can you talk to a 10 to 14 year old and have a decent conversation?
Can you pick up the theme and a most of the basic details of a random conversation? (that isn’t about rocket science)
Are you able to describe a scene to someone with reasonable clarity?
Can you ‘manage’ some more complex tasks in Japanese like visiting the doctor’s, troubleshooting some PC trouble, or conducting a meeting with Japanese speakers that know there are low-level non-natives in the room.
Can you have a good 5~10 minute conversation about general topics?

If you said yes to most of these, then you should be all set for the N3 test. Having passed the test just recently I can say that these should be accurate to the best of my ability, but I’d like to hear what other learners think.

As for hours, based on the hours of my formal study (2 years of Japanese courses: 4 courses total), I have about 384 classroom hours. Based on the table of hours I saw on the tanos site, I should be good for N3 by that alone. Of course I accumulated more hours by studying outside the classroom and later when I self studied. I can't say how much because I don't log my self study hours.

Here is the hours based on the tanos site
http://www.tanos.co.uk/jlpt/aboutjlpt/