So i just found this site and i thought maybe you guys could give me a bit of advice on what to study as we go into the new year. I started studying back in mid January (2015) and i started of with the "Japanese from zero" series and i finished two of them and started the third before getting pissed at them and moving to all online studying. I would NEVER recommend those books to anyone older then 10, and even then... Anyways so i kinda restarted in mid July and have since then finished the JLPT N3 vocabulary course on memrise, and have been using Imabi and Tae Kim's guide for grammar. I've gone over all of the grammar on tae kim's guide, but i haven't really memorized all of it yet. My goal for the year was to reach about JLPT N4 which i more or less did. By summer of this coming year I'd like to be around a JLPT N3, as i may be going to Japan for a 6-week homestay (dependent on scholarships).
When i started studying Japanese i made the mistake of not doing any research and just buying the top rated book on amazon, so now as i go into next year i want to make sure i'm well prepared. What would you guys suggest? I'm tempted to finish the JLPT N2 vocab course on memrise, but there are starting to be alot of already learned word and ignoring all of them is quite annoying. Maybe a good anki deck? Im thinking about a sentence/phrase style, but i haven't really used anki. How far did you guys take SRS? I feel like this post may have been to overly broad, but anywho what do you guys suggest? What as been a big help to you? Do you have any SRS deck that you think are a most have? I would prefer no paid course as I'm poor and my mother wont pay for anymore language-y stuff.
By the way incase it effect anything I've use Lang-8 a bit (about 13 entires), I started doing language exchanges through skype about a week ago, I've read though a decent bit of Yatsubato 1, and i frequently memorize Japanese songs and add new vocab to a personal memrise list.
Phew, so i guess that also a bit of a self introduction, and sorry for any typos its getting late. Nice to meet you all, thanks for reading, and good luck in you studies

I'd suggest getting the Dictionaries of Japanese Grammar. There is a lot of information on Imabi but the explanations aren't the clearest sometimes... make sure you have a more "natural" resource because Imabi is a bit bookish and never tells you what is used in spoken Japanese and what isn't.

I'd also try a systematic textbook. Maybe you'd find that boring but it helps set hazy stuff straight. Other than that, read a lot and get an N3 guide if you intend to take the test (I've heard UNICOM's are pretty good).

If your vocabulary is decent enough and your grammar is sort of coherent (which it should if you're at N4), it's probably a good idea to look for a Japanese friend/penpal/tutor/etc so you can practise your spoken Japanese.