Hello everyone, this is my first post here!

I took the JLPT N3 yesterday, and I think I might clear the exam if my Grammar score (読解）crosses the cut-off. I did well on the other sections.

I have been studying Japanese for about 2 years now and my goal is to clear N1 within the next 1.5 years. However, I have decided that if I fail the dokkai, I might skip N3 altogether and take the N2 next July. Is this a realistic goal, given the fact that I only messed up yesterday because I was having trouble reading Kanji? Would it be possible to cram the kanji I had skipped during N3 + the new N2 kanji over a period of 6 months?

I might have taken this route if I didn't need the N3 by July, but I am afraid I'll be stuck with a N4 if I fail the N2. (I believe we can all agree on the fact that N4 is worthless as a measure of proficiency).

読解 is reading, not grammar. Unless you specifically mean the reading section of the 文法？

N2 読解 is more than just knowing the kanji - it's speed of reading and comprehension. I can't say that you CAN'T do what you propose, in six months but I'd be very impressed. I would start working with anN2 読解 practice book to gauge and improve your reading progress.

sunnyan Wrote:I took the JLPT N3 yesterday, and I think I might clear the exam if my Grammar score (読解)crosses the cut-off. I did well on the other sections.

That's reading comprehension. Grammar is 文法, and it's part of the vocab 語彙 + grammar subsection for scoring purposes even though vocab is tested separately in N3 and lower.

What is a realistic goal mostly depends on how much you study. Even going from zero to N2 in 7 months is not _impossible_ (though it'd definitely be unrealistic for a goal).

Is the N2 actually going to be useful in the 5 months between July and the next time you can take it? If not, better play it safe and take the N3 - but nothing says you can't mainly prepare for N2 while taking the N3.

gaiaslastlaugh. :

Yes, I meant the reading comprehension part of 文法。In fact, I did so badly at it, that I actually expect hardly 5 correct answers on all the passages put together. This should give you an idea as to where I currently stand.

Do you still think my goal is even remotely realistic or I am just being audacious here?

vempele:

I can devote an hour to Japanese everyday, if everything goes according to plan.

The N2 won't be much useful within that 5 period time, but it will be in another 1 and half year from now, when I graduate. Do you suggest I play it safe?

Thank you for your quick replies!

Average study hours per day till now? The hours you're planning to study from now on?

Till now, I think I haven't done any intensive study, and if you average my time actually spent learning the language over 2 years, it'd come to, say, 15 minutes a day.

This does not include the time I spend doing related stuff, say, listening to Japanese music or talking to Japanese people.

I intend to put in 1 hour of study everyday from now on.

[Zgarbas]

I'd say it's totally do-able.

You're really gonna have to study hard to get to N2 in 6 months and N1 in a year and a half. The gap between those tests is bigger than you might think.

Then again, it took me two years to go from N2 to N1... so maybe I'm just slow, haha.

N3 -> N1 in 18 months is do-able although I'd imagine its tough with only 1 hour a day. I think you would probably need to do more than that.

doable but definitely not easy.

Unless you can read normal japanese at a reasonable pace with fairly accurate comprehension, dokkai will be really hard to finish in time. You need to be basically able to read and understand things first time because you won't have time to reread things again and again.

you should probably start reading novels and things. Dokkai is hard because you have to read quickly about boring topics and answer finicky questions that are designed to trip you up.

Thank you everyone for your responses. I could not reply because I had exams. Sorry about that.

From all your replies, what I can gather is that - even though my goal is doable, it will take a lot more effort than what I am currently putting into the language.

Once again, thank you. I will report back on my progress very soon.