[Zgarbas]

Rick_f: NHK news + Whatever books I get my hands on (this year it was 人間失格、キッチン、NHKによおこそ、国境の南、太陽の西、羅生門、神様の子供は皆踊る, extracts from multiple classics) + it's good to read essays too I think (I've read quite a few academic essays when making my dissertation proposal, and when I study poems I usually head to Japanese sites for explanations), Textbooks in Japanese are also pretty useful (I had some for keigo). That being said, I don't spend as much time with them as I should .

However, I'm just a pretty fast reader. I didn't have any issues with reading when I took the past N's either, and I wouldn't spend any time with written native materials back then. Fast does not always equal efficient or good, though.

vileru Wrote:Keep checking once or twice a day. Usually they have them up within a few days after the test, if not the day after.

You talking about the same site will post the questions or a different site?

[RawToast]

scarby dancer Wrote:And having done RTK, I was shocked to have to go back to reading almost everything at N5 level in kana. With the vocab I didn't know, it was just a jumble of meaningless hiragana - no helpful kanji picture to help me figure it out!

I had the same issue with N5 and low (0/1) graded readers, which is why I would generally advise not to take N5 if you've come from RTK/Core. It's more approachable coming from a book like Genki.

I didn't sit anything yesterday. Watching House of Cards turned out to be more fun than a test

spleenlol Wrote:

vileru Wrote:Keep checking once or twice a day. Usually they have them up within a few days after the test, if not the day after.

You talking about the same site will post the questions or a different site?

Same site. It's been a while since I've used it, so I don't remember if they post the questions on the same page as the answers (the page I linked). However, they definitely do post them on that site. Just look for the appropriate kanji or use google translate to navigate the site, if necessary.

Thanks Vileru will do.

rich_f Wrote:@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.

I tried a vocab book from that series, but got bored with it. Not sure why I didn't check out the grammar one. Gonna do that now, thanks!

vileru Wrote:

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.

Right, forgot about him. I guess now that I have a full time job I can't exactly replicate his method any more.

SomeCallMeChris Wrote: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.

LOL I guess for some people "not likely to be used in an everyday conversation" automatically equals "archaic".

Edit: Oh, and today someone I'm following on Twitter used とことん in a tweet. I think that word is gonna haunt me forever now...

Hah, Kanon, I'm reading Catcher in the Rye now as translated by Murakami and he says とことん all the time, but I still don't fully get the meaning because it's sort of Holden Caulfield's idiosyncratic jaded 1940s/50s NY teen language translated into Japanese. Nonetheless it's pretty good, you'll also encounter やれやれ and インチキ　何回目.

I'm definitely going to start reading more non-fiction stuff, even if it's just newspapers. I instinctively was already doing that after the test, like the test exposed me to (albeit contrived) material I don't usually encounter.

Zgarbas, do you listen to music a lot? Do you like hip hop? Spoken word poetry? I'm just trying to think of alternative ways to address your listening woes.

RawToast, were you signed up for N5 and just decided not to go?

As a random note on N2 読解 - I'll be glad if I never see the words 空想, 想像, and 創造again. That next to last essay was a brute.

gaiaslastlaugh Wrote:As a random note on N2 読解 - I'll be glad if I never see the words 空想, 想像, and 創造 again. That next to last essay was a brute.

haha yeah I know what you mean!
I was like reading the same word 3 times...


How well do you think you did on the reading? I didn't have enough time (ie I don't read fast enough) so I just had to skim the last few pages and guess.

spleenlol Wrote:How well do you think you did on the reading? I didn't have enough time (ie I don't read fast enough) so I just had to skim the last few pages and guess.

I ended up doing a lot of guessing on the last five questions due to time constraints, but I think I did well enough up until then to balance it out.

I did N1 in San Francisco. It was 3/4 full since some didn't show up for the exam. Most are young college students and in my room I only saw a couple of 30ish guys.
Anyways, I was surprised to see a guy looking at his smartphone and then scribbling something on the desk before the exam.
This exam is tough and 1 year is not enough for me to prepare after passing N2. I found listening easier. I read all the essays but just guessed the answers since I don't know all the kanji.
I may have to retake the exam but not next year.

(This'll be long; sorry in advance)

Took N2 at Villanova/Philadelphia, so here's my experience (late: 1 day there, test day, and another to get home again):

The test site itself (because I didn't see any mention of this location before)- My test room was set up as a lecture hall, with tables and office chairs (not individual desks). That said, there WAS a clock on the wall, but since I was assigned to the front row, I'd've had to look behind me to see it. The proctors, however, did bring a clock, but it was very small. I could see it, but again, I was about a foot away; doubt the people on the 3rd level would. Sound system crackled occasionally (didn't interfere with the questions that I noticed), but they were speakers set into the wall, not a boombox. Oh, and N1 was the room next door, so we could hear the tones on their listening but not the actual questions.
Bathrooms were close, parking was stupidly easy and close, and there was a coffee shop of some kind on the first floor.

As for the test itself, I'm glad I'm not in a situation where I HAVE to pass it, because I know I didn't. My brain hasn't been very nice to me with concentrating/memorizing/learning for the past year or 2, so it's been a chore just to maintain the level I had when I graduated. I knew going into the test that it probably wasn't going to be pretty.

語彙 and 文法 were ok. I could understand what I was supposed to be doing, and could narrow down a few options to the most likely. I'll need to work on the scrambled sentences/word order, but that probably comes more from extensive reading of texts and "getting used" to how things are supposed to read. Lots of guessing here, so I don't expect to do well.
Then came 読解, and questioning myself why I even put myself into this situation in the first place (and wanting to walk out). Let's just say it comes down to vocabulary: I saw the words, I could tell parts of speech (noun, etc.), and I could understand the grammar. But that's all it was: The noun adjectively verbed. I was limited by my lack of vocabulary before, and that's still the case. I answered 3 questions, and they were total guesses.
聴解 was interesting, and I think it might have gone ok. I got confused on the directions for the last 3 questions (2 sections?); still not totally sure what happened there.

That's it. I need massive amounts of vocabulary, which is nothing new (and SRS doesn't work on my brain). I now know what the readings actually look like (総まとめ was totally unhelpful there; does Kanzen Master have better examples?).

Thanks for all of the reading suggestions. My wallet may feel some pressure, but I thank you.

@vonpeterhof: After taking the test and reflecting a bit, I'm not so sure that kanzen master N1 grammar is as useful as I thought it was going to be. I've got about 1500 cards from the N1 book in my Anki deck (mostly multiple choice), and I don't know how useful it was to do that.

It may be my test-induced brain fog, but there were only a few questions where I was thinking, "A-ha! I know this cold!" The rest were, "Uhh... I like the number 1, so I'll go with that," or "This feels like a 4 question to me." >_>a

I'm going to get on the vocab/reading train for the next N1. Some grammar, too, but not nearly so much emphasis on it. Instead, I'm going to focus more on reading lots, and parsing out the grammar in what I read to grok it better, I think.

Oh, I took the test at Georgetown University in DC. The facilities are always great there. Clocks and big chairs and leg room galore. And heating! (I didn't have heating or leg room in Nagoya when I took the N1 there. That was unpleasant to say the least.)

The desks were tiny, but they're always tiny. Wherever I take the test, the desks are tiny. -_-

Also, the proctors were all very nice and relaxed. The room was only 2/3 full, though.

rich_f Wrote:@vonpeterhof: After taking the test and reflecting a bit, I'm not so sure that kanzen master N1 grammar is as useful as I thought it was going to be. I've got about 1500 cards from the N1 book in my Anki deck (mostly multiple choice), and I don't know how useful it was to do that.

Did you use the 読解 book, Rich? I studied at least half of it before taking N2, and found it really useful. I also found that approach a lot more interesting than reading the N2 grammar book from front to back; I mainly used the reading book for study, and the grammar book for reference.

gaiaslastlaugh Wrote:As a random note on N2 読解 - I'll be glad if I never see the words 空想, 想像, and 想像 again. That next to last essay was a brute.

That passage was from a book Leiji Matsumoto wrote, I noticed. Pretty neat! Probably gonna hunt down a copy when I get a chance.

(I think I did okay on the exam, but I won't be exhaling until the results arrive)

Moses Wrote:

gaiaslastlaugh Wrote:As a random note on N2 読解 - I'll be glad if I never see the words 空想, 想像, and 想像 again. That next to last essay was a brute.

That passage was from a book Leiji Matsumoto wrote, I noticed. Pretty neat! Probably gonna hunt down a copy when I get a chance.

Thanks! I was so intent on reading it I didn't even have a chance to note the attribution.

Also, I just found my listening practice for N1: http://www.crunchyroll.com/teekyu/episode-33-645803

No, I didn't use the 読解 book, and I probably should have. I didn't have a whole lot of time to prepare for N1, so I spent most of my time nailing down grammar. I have the 読解 book, I just didn't have the time. (Or rather, I allotted the time to grammar.)

I'm definitely going to re-focus on reading and vocab when I start going back at it again in a few days. I thought about taking a week or two off, but now I realize that that would be a very bad idea.

Yeah, I tried tackling the grammar book directly, and gave up after Lesson 4. Snooooore.

What I do next test-wise depends on my results. If I somehow scrounged together enough points on 聴解 (I too went for the handy "this feels like a 3" method on more than one question), I'll get the N1 文法 and 読解, and allot some time each month for prep. Otherwise, I'm going to read novels for the next year and practice 聴解 starting in October for another run at N2.

My girlfriend is a little amazed that I'm watching anime and reading Japanese news a day after getting my ass kicked. But, hey. I'm just starting to increase my reading speed on novels, and tackling some harder Wikipedia and magazine articles. It's becoming fun!

[Zgarbas]

tashippy Wrote:Zgarbas, do you listen to music a lot? Do you like hip hop? Spoken word poetry? I'm just trying to think of alternative ways to address your listening woes.

I do listen to music, though not to hip-hop; basically anything that you can break your leg on . I'm cool with plain ol' catchy stuff, though. Alas, the only Japanese bands that don't bore me are 吉田拓郎、吉田兄弟、and DOES. (man, this turned into one big link drop didn't it?)

Usually if I want to pick up the lyrics I have to listen to the song while reading them, though. I like the idea of spoken word poetry, and I like listening to it (especially if it's Ginsberg or Plath), but unless I have the poem itself in front of me I can't recall a thing they say after they've said it.

Immediately after the listening section finished I got in my car and because of the magic of bluetooth the kanzen master choukai questions started playing. NOPEE turned that off and listened to miley cyrus on the way home. But yeah as soon as I got home it was back to Japanese Variety shows and dramas.

[RawToast]

tashippy Wrote:RawToast, were you signed up for N5 and just decided not to go?

Nope, I didn't sign up for anything this December The test is £75 here which is currently $120, that's too much money to waste!

I was thinking of taking N4, but I am glad I didn't. I've had a very busy November at work getting a release candidate out. As long as I am not on a project with a December/Janurary deadline I plan on N2/N3 next December, I'll probably do something next summer.

This thread's been an interesting read, even though I didn't take any test this time around, myself. At the beginning of the year I kept telling myself "N1 by December", even though I had no sense of what that really meant. About half way through the year, I figured out that was highly unrealistic, and this thread pretty much validated that choice in my mind (I don't know what とことん means either!). You guys have put the fear in me

But its ok-- I'll just make an effort to learn what that word means by next December and then I will truly be ready.

I counted three とことんs in the N1. I only found the meaning by checking my Kenkyusha. (To the bitter end, to the end, all the way through, something like that.)

Of course, it won't show up on the next 3-4 N1s, you know. Nature of the beast.

And the next grammar section will all be the old stuff that they didn't put in this one.

It's such a quirky weird test. They always have the single, obligatory question testing your ability to compose a sentence with basic sonkeigo/kenjougo. Why don't we have some more of that, complicated Japanese that's actually practical... rather than はおるか and ざるを得ない...?