lanval Wrote:Reading also left me guessing between 2 very similar options half of the time, what the heck is up with that?!

Indeed, compared to the practice tests the answers in the real test were too similar I think. Like the text about the Shogi player, I thought I understood all of it but when I saw the questions I still didn't know the right answers.
That feel when you read the first answer and think "yep, that's correct", you read the second answer and think "yep, that's also correct" .....

Also, some of the practice tests' texts were actually quite interesting and enjoyable to read. I thought the real test's texts were ALL very boring.

lanval Wrote:Took the N2 today (1.time) - after 6 months of study in japan and passing their N2 tests with relative ease, I thought I'd be fine. I'm pretty sure I failed. Was way more difficult than the N2 practice tests, IN ALL AREAS! Kanji, Vocab... saw so many things I never even heard of before. Reading also left me guessing between 2 very similar options half of the time, what the heck is up with that?! - me keeps wondering... Listening was bad, as expected. Just read about kanzen master N2 being good, too late...
Did anyone else feel like they accidently went into the N1-room?
I'm sad about the money I spent on it, but on the other hand, N1 prob. being impossible, N2 will be my goal and motivation for a while longer.

This was almost exactly my experience with N2. Your reading speed needs to be swift to do well on the 読解。It REALLY helps to drill JLPT sample exercises, and accustom yourself to the ways in which the test authors attempt to trip you up. I've also been finding it useful to walk through sample questions every week with a Japanese teacher. (I work with a really good and affordable teacher on iTalki, if you're ever interested.)

For me the hardest part was the reading. I made the mistake to read it a few times cause the questions and their possible answers were confusing for me. Needless to say I ran out of time and pretty much guessed from question 32 onwards.

I will be focusing on reading more when I will take the N2. I don't intend to retake the N3 in case I failed.

Furthermore there were words that I didn't know in the kanji/goi test so I am a bit hesitant to keep using the sou matome books to learn kanji/vocab.

lanval Wrote:Took the N2 today (1.time) - after 6 months of study in japan and passing their N2 tests with relative ease, I thought I'd be fine.

Did you start from zero? I'm pretty sure 6 months to N2 is near impossible unless you are Asian.

uhm no, I started a few years ago. I was between N3 and N2 when I went to Japan to study N2 and then on N1 level (latter being too difficult for me).
@gaiaslastlaugh: thanks, I think I'll just continue studying by myself for a while without the test in mind.

Did you guys finish the Core 6k? I haven't (missing about 2000 words), so that's what I'm gonna do next. I keep thinking vocab is most important when trying to learn this beast of a language^^ Without massive vocab skills, I can't read novels, follow the news or pass this test, apparently xD

lanval Wrote:Did you guys finish the Core 6k? I haven't (missing about 2000 words), so that's what I'm gonna do next. I keep thinking vocab is most important when trying to learn this beast of a language^^ Without massive vocab skills, I can't read novels, follow the news or pass this test, apparently xD

I was at about 5,200 words mature in my core deck, with an additional 500-600 words either new, or learning. I found there were a decent number of words on this N2 that i didn't know in the reading sections. I feel I'm right on the cusp of passing, and would usually get 60-80% of the practice tests questions correct. On the actual test I did OK time wise, but I didn't do as well as I would have liked. A big part of that was lacking vocab, or having enough exposure to the vocab I've studied so that words were instantly recognizable under testing conditions. I'll be pretty surprised if I passed.

lanval Wrote:Did you guys finish the Core 6k? I haven't (missing about 2000 words), so that's what I'm gonna do next. I keep thinking vocab is most important when trying to learn this beast of a language^^ Without massive vocab skills, I can't read novels, follow the news or pass this test, apparently xD

When I passed N2 I had finished going through Core 6k & the Tanos N2 vocabulary deck, and was reading easy novels and putting new words from them into Anki. There was hardly a word I didn't know on the test. I can't recommend the tanos JLPT decks enough. They helped me pass N2 & N1, although I added example sentences from the Kenkyuusha Green Goddess dictionary, and added common kanji when the deck only listed a word in kana, but they were still great deck templates.

Language knowledge - 46/60
Reading - 51/60
Listening - 43/60

Total - 140/180

Vocabulary - B
Grammar - A

Result: passed! Out of this game for good, without ever having been to Japan! やったぜ！ Now all that's left is to learn to speak Japanese like an actual human being. Looks like there's still a lifetime of work ahead...

vonPeterhof Wrote:Language knowledge - 46/60
Reading - 51/60
Listening - 43/60

Total - 140/180

Vocabulary - B
Grammar - A

Result: passed! Out of this game for good, without ever having been to Japan! やったぜ！ Now all that's left is to learn to speak Japanese like an actual human being. Looks like there's still a lifetime of work ahead...

Congrats vonPeterhof!

N2

Language knowledge 60/60
Reading 35/60
Listening 60/60
Total 155/180 pass

Yay, can't believe I got the full score on lang knowledge and listening. I'm sure there were a few where I had to guess but must have gotten lucky
On the other hand, while reading was the hardest section, I scored lower than what I expected.

I wonder if it's possible to pass N1 in December if I start studying from today. Haven't studied since the test in July... Can anyone report on how big the gap is between N2 and N1? Passing N1 would be very beneficial for me even if it's with the lowest possible pass rate but I just need that certificate...

Congrats vonPeterhof for passing N1!

N1 180/180 first time. Yay lol. There was nothing I felt like I got wrong so I was hopeful but I didn't really think I'd get 180 xD
Congrats you two above~

Thanks and congratulations, guys!

@LongtimeLurker I think it's possible to pass N1 in December, but it's not gonna be easy and will require lots of preparation. Last July I passed N2 with all scores in the fifties (51/50/56) to then fail N1 in December by a mere 5 points (24/34/37). The part that dragged me down the worst was vocabulary - in comparison with N2 you really do feel like all bets are off in this one, since there isn't even an official vocabulary list for it. In spite of that, I think studying the Kanzen Master N1 vocabulary book did help me a lot in preparing for my second attempt, making it easy to identify vocabulary gaps and fill them using clear example sentences.

For reading I didn't really notice a radical change in subject matter or writing style in N1, but it is somewhat more complex than in N2. While reading fiction and news articles is good for sustaining and expanding your vocabulary, the best kinds of texts to prepare oneself for the reading section of N1 are essays, editorials and newspaper columns - texts with topics that deal with real life but are by no means subjects of everyday conversation, usually with the author promoting a certain point of view. I've never studied using the Kanzen Master reading books, but I figure that they may have useful tips in terms of dealing with specific kinds of test questions.

Good luck with your studies!

Wow, so many passes! Congrats everyone!

@LongtimeLurker The main thing that was harder about N1 when I took it was that it expected you to know a lot more vocabulary words. Other than that, I think the reading and listening were a little longer or something, but it was mostly the same.

Passed N1 first time 'round! Want to re-take in December to improve my score, but (for now) a pass is a pass.

Just found out that I passed N3 (checked the online results so technically not official yet).

To be honest I was convinced I didn't pass. I felt I did rather bad in the reading section and had to resort to guessing when I ran out of time. The funny thing was that I did understand what I was reading, but the questions made me second guess all the time and made me read a section again.

For N2 I will definitely will need to look into reading tips/tricks to avoid such a disaster again.

I was quite surprised to learn that I passed the N2. Now, with a modest score of 107 points taking the N1 in December is clearly out of the question. So I'm thinking about re-taking the N2 to crank up those numbers. But I was wondering what would happen if, god forbid, I were to fail the N2 in December. That wouldn't make my current pass void, would it? My pass from July would still count, right?


And congratulations to everyone! Keep up the good work!

Sheriff Wrote:I was quite surprised to learn that I passed the N2. Now, with a modest score of 107 points taking the N1 in December is clearly out of the question. So I'm thinking about re-taking the N2 to crank up those numbers. But I was wondering what would happen if, god forbid, I were to fail the N2 in December. That wouldn't make my current pass void, would it? My pass from July would still count, right?

Does anyone ever see these numbers? Are they on the certificate you receive? If not, I wouldn't worry about it, and would go straight to working on N1. Just my opinion, though.

They are on the certificate, but I don't know if anyone else is ever going to see or care about them. I haven't thought about it to be honest. Polishing those numbers would be purely for my own satisfaction.
Applying for N1 would make me study harder for sure. So I guess it would be the smarter choice. I have to apply by the end of the week. So I have a little bit of time left to think about it some more.

You only need 90 points to pass the N2, so it's not like you only barely passed.

The numbers are useful for scholarships (some even specify a score you need), and for syuukatu (日本語能力試験１級満点合格 should look nice on 履歴書 lol). But if you're not thinking about uni/jobs in Japan then I guess it's just for personal satisfaction.

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Arupan Wrote:x

Hey man thanks Yeah I totally know what you mean about the ambiguous answers...
I was at Keio I was MEXT too so I never had to worry about it but the Korean kids (normal 学部生) in my dorm kept going on about requirements for scholarships. There was one which required something like 170/180 N1 for Koreans/Chinese and 135~ for everyone else haha.

Edit: what are you doing nowadays?^^ just curious! It sounds like you're a research student or something in Japan?

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Arupan Wrote:x

I wish! All the 日本語研修課程 MEXT students had to leave in July if we wanted MEXT to pay for our flights T_T (loads of MEXT students in Narita on July 31st haha)
Wow that's crazy xD What sort of stuff is it you have to memorise for the entrance exam? All stuff related to your field or more general stuff (maths, 国語、世界史、日本史...)?

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