Hi folks

Just need some advice - which books are really good for self study for attaining Level 3? Bearing in mind I've never done any Japanese language courses, have been in Japan 4 years and can only get by with the most basic of phrases, picked up from friends and books/pimsleur etc etc.

I want to do the JLPT to push myself to start learning the language a lot more than I have been in the last 4 years! I've also been learning RTK of course, and am at 500 kanji, and have no problem reading and writing hiragana/katakana.

Any advice would be helpful. When I picked up my application form I also picked up the にほんごチャレンジ３級　Books - Practice in Vocabulary and Kanji as well as Practice in Grammar and Reading. I've also go hold of lots of previous tests, so I can practice on these.

Just wondering if there is another book(s) that could be invaluable to have as a resource?

Seven

The Genki series is good prep for level 3. Between Genki 1-2 you'll get all the grammar points.

If you think you could pass 4kyuu pretty easily, and you're looking for one compact book that will teach you all the grammar that you need to know, go with 3A Corporation's "Kanzen Master 3kyuu" book:

http://www.3anet.co.jp/english/books/tex...unpo3.html

Take notes, and be sure you understand all the nuances to the conjugations.

Then, if you need to build your vocabulary in a big hurry, google "Excel@Japanese". It's an MS-Excel-based vocab drill program that you can easily email to yourself or carry around on a USB keychain for portability. It won't work on your keitai, but you'll need to type a lot, so keitai-ing it up is a bit out of the question for any successful vocab building, I'd say.

Then, find some old 3kyuu practice exams, take them, and see what your weak points are. Study those a bit more, and you should be good to go.

You have to be a bit careful with the Kanzen Master grammar books. Although they do cover all the grammar you need for the JLPT, and have handy example questions to make sure you get the forms right, their explanations of what the grammar actually means can often be missing important details. For instance (this is a JLPT2 example as I don't have the JLPT3 book) their explanation for をめぐって just says ~を中心にそれに関係あることについて . That's enough for you to understand a sentence using that bit of grammar, but it completely fails to mention that it's almost always used to describe something being fought, argued or disputed over.

So don't use them as your only source of grammar information, only as a revision aid, is my advice.

Thanks for the reply folks. I was wondering about the Kanzen book - was leafing through it the day I bought my application form and the other study books, but didn't pick it up at that time. I like your advice pm215, I think I'll eventually get it as a "reference" guide.
TGWeaver, I think I have the Genki series lying around, so will dig back into those.