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So, sure it tomorrow, eh?
I just took the official sample questions. Not sure how the real thing is going to go - the sample listening questions are super-easy and I think I'll pass that perfectly fine (N3 result tells me that listening is my best section too, apparently). I still suck at grammar and kanji, but might be able to fake my way through it. Some of the reading looks really hard, some of it really easy.
Oh well, much too late to make any difference now, so guess I'll just approach it with unjustified optimism. Cramming the day before a test is unsightly.
Anyone else off to Kichijoji tomorrow?
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Taking mine in Chicago on Sunday. Going to Christkindlemarket after the test so anyone in the area is free to join me.
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I took today off to do some more N2 practice questions. I finished the last of the ドリルとドリル reading questions today, and will run some more listening tomorrow, as well as review some of the harder sample reading questions that my teacher has given me in my lessons during the year.
Feeling fairly confident. I actually know this stuff!
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rich_f, that really sucks on the eye trouble. Hope you're feeling better.
I haven't done a lot of mock testing, sadly. I just haven't had the time or motivation. However, my iTalki reading teacher has spent the past year sending me a couple of N2 (and, in some cases, N1!) sample questions 15-20 minutes before our lesson, so that I could practice answering them within a time constraint. That's been very useful. Nerve-wracking, but useful. Between that and N2 grammar studies with another teacher, I think I'll do okay.
I know a lot of people would rather paint a fence with their tongue than study for a test, but I like the structure that studying for N2 has given my Japanese studies this past year. Assuming I clear N2, I'll take the same approach with N1.
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I realised at the beginning of the week that there was no way I would pass. I just haven't had enough energy to study as much as I should have in the past months. Right now I'm not even sure I'll actually get to the test, since I need someone to drive me to the train station in the next 30-60 mins, and no one else is up... I'm pretty sure I'm the only one sitting N2 in my area, and I have no way of contacting the examiners if I can't make it, so, I feel really, really bad right now.
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Anyone else sitting the test at UW in Seattle?
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@sauzer D.C. representing!
Good luck to everyone tomorrow.
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Is it the same test worldwide?
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Well, I did manage to make it, despite a delayed train and bus (fortunately not too late though!). And here are some thoughts on the test:
1) way, way easier than expected. I took the old L2 exam about 5 years ago and it was just so, so hard, I was expecting the same experience this time, and I think that also affected my studying.
2) I was very surprised at the slow pace of the listening. I was expecting something a lot faster, but it was a pretty easy pace. I did live in Japan for 4 years, and just came back this Aug, so probably that helped, though I never listened to radio or watched TV while over there.
3) Lack of trick questions. I really expected to have to read things closely to find the answers. I dunno, perhaps that means I got everything wrong, but it didn't seem all that bad. Especially the last reading comprehension question. I really wonder if I got that totally wrong, because it seemed way too easy.
4) I finished 30 mins early. That was a surprise too.
My study 'regimen' (if you can even call it that) was about 90% anki core 6k, and 10% grammar, and I think that was about right for this test, maybe this is an 'easy' year? I didn't do any practise tests, but I did do a practise kanji drill which I scored 90% on (yay Heisig!!!), which gave me a lot of confidence in my kanji skills. I wish I had got through the whole of 6k, as I feel only my lack of vocab let me down (I think I got through about 4-5k worth but only had about 2k mature).
Overall, I'm still expecting to fail, since the listening section with even the answers only spoken threw me a bit, but I think it'll be reasonably close.
Tl;dr, not nearly as difficult a test as I thought, wish I had put more time into vocab, as I felt it was the only thing that I was lacking.
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Reporting in. Pretty sure I failed.
Listening is probably fine, but language knowledge was, I think, extremely poor. Reading may or may not be okay, but I found it quite difficult. I did note the lack of trick questions too though, especially compared to last time I JLPTed, which was nice, but my brain was pretty well mush by the end anyway. Should I decide to do this again, I should probably spend some time on reading the sorts of things that show up on tests - reading a novel involves a different knowledge set (which no one has any interest in testing), I think. Also, kanji, lol.
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I did the N3 here in Tokyo (my first JLPT experience) and hard to say what the score will be. Listening section seemed relatively easy, so if it fails it will be in the grammar part. I Should study more so that there is no need to read twice... Just had enough time to finish before the time ran out. Kanji and vocab were easy.
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I'll report in too.
Took the N4 in Tokyo. It was a heck of a lot easier than the practice exam I took in July, which really shows how much work I put in in the last 6 months I think. It hurt a lot that I stayed out late the night before - but the main purpose of my trip was a conference which took place the night before, and socializing with those people was an opportunity that I couldn't pass up.
What killed me on the practice test was the vocab and grammer. This time I was delighted that the vocab wasn't too bad (thanks Anki) but the grammar unfortunately was still hard, just less so. I got tired as the exam went on too, so I feel that my performance declined over time. The listening was harder than I thought, though if I had to guess I would say that I passed that section. It's the grammer that was hardest.
Also, I only learned the week of the test that the audio wouldn't be repeated. To me that shows how little exam-specific prep I really did.
Basically, this being my first JLPT, the biggest lesson was how different it was than homework that I had in class. I knew going in that rules of thumb like "if you finish Genki 2 and know it pretty well then you're fine for JLPT N4" weren't quite accurate, but I didn't fully appreciate the gap until actually taking the real exam.
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It's hot in here. Why is it hot? Winter in Finland shouldn't be hot!
And the N1 is held in a room called the Fireplace, so it's only going to get hotter.
Edited: 2014-12-07, 5:20 am
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Huge 失敗 here.
I tried N1, starded studying japanese exactly one year and a half ago from scratch.
I've done some mock tests before and scored pretty good (around 75%), the real thing wasn't so much different but I screwed it completely for several reasons.
I wasn't prepared physically, didn't have lunch and didn't drink enough water before the test. Drinking water during the test was not permitted. Watches of any type were banned to, and I knew all this funny stuff just ten minutes before the start (it was not specified on the rules they mailed us).
I've read somewhere that watches and water were not a problem in other states but here in Italy we have this weird capacity of taking precious informations from 長針 movements and H2O molecules so I should have been prepared.
Rants aside it was really funny, I enjoyed myself a lot and learned many things. I hope it'll go better next time
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I took the N1 today for the first time, and I guess it went OK. I feel like my result will end up pretty close to the passing limit unless I miscalculated completely, so I wouldn't be surprised if it went either way to be honest. Unexpectedly though, I had more trouble with the grammar/vocab part than I thought I would have, and less problem with the listening than I thought (I was really scared of the listening part).
Edited: 2014-12-07, 12:40 pm
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I was pretty arrogant and tried N1, about 1 year after having started studying 日本語.
I found the language knowledge and reading section quite easy, but completely failed the listening section (except for the spoken response thing).
If I still managed to get the 19 points in listening then I think the rest will cover 81 points but it will be really close...
Edited: 2014-12-07, 1:50 pm
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Had my first go at N1, but feel like I messed it up quite badly.
I hardly prepared myself for the test (although I do know the format from taking the N2), and for some reason also hardly slept before the test, so my concentration was really bad to begin with and only got worse as the test progressed. Towards the end I could hardly bother to think anymore. In addition to that, I unfortunately also found myself guessing way more often than I'd have liked, especially in the language knowledge (as expected) and listening section (somewhat unexpectedly, although I haven't practiced listening in a long time...).
As a result, I wouldn't be very surprised if I fail. Maybe I guessed well enough to barely pass with a really mediocre, shameful score, but most probably not more. But in a way I'm ok with that. If I pass that's nice, but as I don't need the N1 for anything, it doesn't really matter too much, although failing would be somewhat of a blow to my ego I guess. If I fail I at least have something to keep me going for some more time.
After passing the N2 (in large parts due to cramming and studying specifically for the test), I felt that for the N1, it'd probably be better to pass it due to an extensive knowledge of Japanese rather than solely an extensive knowledge about how to cheat my way through the test. So if I failed this time, I'll probably just continue to read stuff that interests me personally and improve my Japanese that way, rather than studying for the N1.
Even though it gets harder to notice my progress now compared to when I was a beginner, I definitely feel like I'm improving lately. While in Japan I bought tons of books by and about Richard Feynman. Reading the translation of his investigation into the space shuttle challenger disaster, or the future of computing (as predicted in ~1970) and understanding most of it is really rewarding. Unfortunately for me, that's not really the kind of skill that is tested on the N1.
I hope next year works out better for you.
