Yeah. You can do whatever you want.

No one has said anything about the listening section- is there only one correct answer? I don't understand why you have to mark both correct and incorrect answers...

Yes, there is only one correct answer.

Yeah - it's pretty stupid that the no-pic listening section has all those choices.

Thanks

By the way- to anyone who has been taking 3級 practice tests- I found the answers at the end of the test, but not in the answers section. I've had some strange results... I was doing well on the kanji/vocab sections- about 75% and poor on grammar- a little over 50% but today I took the 2003 and scored 64% vocab and 72% grammar. It probably helps that I'm taking the time to translate everything. I have plenty of time on both sections- kanji/vocab is only taking about 20min and grammar a little over 30. What am I going to do with the other 3 hours I'm there?

With only about 1 day left to study, I think I will focus on listening and practicing the reading sections.

On Sunday, I will bring some grapefruits to munch on; they help me think clearly.

If the no-pic section didn't make you mark the sheet for each option, you could guess the answer just by watching to see when other people marked their sheets.

Um, good luck to everyone!

Then couldn't you do that for the other sections anyway?

PrettyKitty Wrote:Then couldn't you do that for the other sections anyway?

No, because the other sections aren't tied to an audio track....

If you can see what other people are marking, it doesn't matter if it's tied to an audio track or not.

PrettyKitty Wrote:If you can see what other people are marking, it doesn't matter if it's tied to an audio track or not.

Let me explain. The first audio part has all four options written on a paper. The audio track ends with a question, so once the question is given, all students simultaneously mark one of the four options (you don't know which one they mark, obviously).

The second (and sometimes, third) audio part asks the question, and then gives you one by one the four possible answers, spaced in time. If students had to wait until all four have been told, there wouldn't be a need to mark the incorrect ones, but as most will write the answer as soon as they hear it, and that would make you able to guess the correct one by simply following their reactions, the examiners make all students to mark something after each possible answer (to mask which one is the correct).

I see now. I didn't know the 2nd part was like that. So then, lets say the answer is "a" you have to not only mark "a" as correct, but also mark "b" "c" and "d" as incorrect to get the question right?

kfmfe04 Wrote:On Sunday, I will bring some grapefruits to munch on; they help me think clearly.

You're only allowed to eat/drink during the breaks.

Jarvik7 Wrote:

kfmfe04 Wrote:On Sunday, I will bring some grapefruits to munch on; they help me think clearly.

You're only allowed to eat/drink during the breaks.

Yup - I understand - I'll wolf down a grapefruit between 1/2 and 2/3.

The 2/3 one hour break looks like it's long enough for me to go out to the konbini or get a quick ramen for lunch...

Thx, snallygaster, for that explanation. It does make sense.
However, I will probably still wait until I hear the right answer before filling out all four.
I find it a little hard to concentrate on listening when I'm filling the circles (I'm NOT a multi-tasker), and the no-pic section is dictated rather fast...

I wonder if there is a little time at the end of the listening section to fill out the NO's - or maybe I will use the break in the middle (between questions 7 and 8?) to do that...

[Katsuo]

kfmfe04 Wrote:I wonder if there is a little time at the end of the listening section to fill out the NO's

There's no time.

kfmfe04 Wrote:or maybe I will use the break in the middle (between questions 7 and 8?) to do that...

The section concerned comes after the short break.

So you need to fill in the "No" answers for each question as you go along.

Katsuo Wrote:

kfmfe04 Wrote:I wonder if there is a little time at the end of the listening section to fill out the NO's

There's no time.

kfmfe04 Wrote:or maybe I will use the break in the middle (between questions 7 and 8?) to do that...

The section concerned comes after the short break.

So you need to fill in the "No" answers for each question as you go along.

Thx for the warning.

Well, actually, filling out the "no"s as they're read (as long as you're sure they're "no") can help you out; it lets you purge them from your mind & concentrate on the next option. You don't have to remember "#1 no, #2 maybe, #3 no, #4 maybe" for those questions when you're not sure. But of course try whatever works for you.
They say there's no time to mark unanswered questions at the end, but the "owarimasu" message at the end of the test takes about 15 seconds so if you only have a few to fill in you can do it. There IS a 40-second mini-break in the middle of section 2, in addition to the longer break in between the two sections. Anyway, I think you can get away with it but don't risk your test on it!

[Katsuo]

snallygaster Wrote:There IS a 40-second mini-break in the middle of section 2, in addition to the longer break in between the two sections

Apologies -- I made a mistake in my previous reply (not paying enough attention). Snallygaster's information is correct.

No problem. I'll fill them up as much as I can.

I can usually parse what is being said as long as my mind doesn't wander.

I find that the two things that kill me in listening are:
1. If my mind wanders (happens while I'm filling in)
2. If unknown vocabulary comes up

There's nothing I can do about 2.

I really need to do well in listening because I get killed in the 2nd half of vocabulary, and I have to work really hard to get 50-60% in reading comprehension/grammar.

Thanks for your suggestions.

[Katsuo]

kfmfe04 Wrote:my mind wanders

Same here. For me the listening-only (no pictures) part of the test is the most stressful as I need to concentrate continuously to stop my mind wandering. The mini-break (30 seconds of elevator music) is very useful to relax in.

Incidentally, on three occasions when I took the test somebody's phone went off during that section. They replay the question at the end though, so it's not a big problem (except for the phone owner, who gets ejected).

Good luck tomorrow.

Take aderall.

Nah, just kidding. But you should train yourself at filling in circles without thinking, you need to listen to the answers and as you hear something is incorrect, put your pen on the "NO" circle and start filling it in, but concentrate 100% on the audio. Your mind needs no concentration at all to fill a circle as long as you've trained ^^

I'm off to take the lvl 3 in Fukuoka. Good luck to everyone! Doors open in Japan in 45 minutes!

captal Wrote:I'm off to take the lvl 3 in Fukuoka. Good luck to everyone! Doors open in Japan in 45 minutes!

Haha, I get a whole extra day to prep. Yay for timezones.

Anyone taking 2kyuu let me know of any tricky questions when you're done >

(and there goes my 666 post count)

taking level 1 tomorrow on zero studying and a likely hangover. i expect to fail spectacularly. wish me luck!

wasurenaide Wrote:taking level 1 tomorrow on zero studying and a likely hangover. i expect to fail spectacularly. wish me luck!

You're doing it wrong. The hangover is supposed to be the day after the test. Mine will be anyways.

I wish everybody good luck

<--- *not taking it this year, but probably next year 2kyuu*

edit: I just took my first mock test ever (3kyuu) because I thought today is the best day to do it
I was actually surprised how well I did (although I'm a little bit confused about how many points each question is worth, but if I did it right it looks like this):

Kanji/Vocab: 91/100
Grammar/Reading: 172/200
Listening: 87/100
Makes around 88%

As expected grammar was my weak point, but I just guessed what sounded right to me and obvioiusly most of the time it was correct.

Maybe I'll try a 2kyuu test next time just to fail completely