Hi,

I am taking JLPT level 2 at the end of this year and I think it is going to be a relatively close thing. I don't really have the option of learning everything I want to learn before taking the test, so I am looking for advice on what areas to focus on.

I have completed RTK1 and at my current rate will know about 1000 kanji from Kanji Odyssy (All SRSed AJATT style and so forth). Grammar wise I should know everything basic by then and most common intermediate grammar.

Do you suggest putting in more effort into finishing off KO (total 1110) and expanding my vocab beyond that or getting a more rounded knowledge of grammar? Or in other words, which am I going to get more milage from?

Listening has never been much of a problem for me so I'm not so worried there.

You're cutting it rather close I'd recommend forgetting about learning in context for now since you only have 1.5 months and just attack the jlpt 4,3,2 vocab lists, studying kanji->reading and meaning, failing if you miss either. You'll get the vocab and readings together that way. Don't bother with production cards, they take way longer and you don't have time for that. JLPT has no production on it anyways. After that's done get a list of the jlpt4,3,2 grammar (I haven't seen any on the internets so you'll need books for those). JLPT prep books never have any good examples or explanations of grammar so you'll need a set of grammar dictionaries too. You just want the books for the lists and sample questions.

If you have any time left over after that (doubtful) do reading practice (preferably from past JLPT tests). Reading is the hardest part of the test due to the strict time limits.

This is obviously not the best way to learn Japanese, but the best way to pass a standard exam is to study for the exam. Just with the vocabulary lists you'll need to be doing a hundred+ words per day to get it done in time. Good Luck

If you're in Japan you might want to just skip the December exam and take the new summer one (which only offers 1 & 2 kyuu and only in Japan).

I only have one suggestion: start taking tests from the past for practice so you know which areas you need to concentrate on.

My main advice for anyone aiming for JLPT2 who hasn't studied in Japan:

Focus on listening. For those of us who have lived for some time in Japan, the listening part is pretty much the easiest part of the test, but for everyone else, I've heard it's really hard. I don't know HOW you can effectivly study for it, but if you can't clearly hear fast spoken Japanese and parse it REALLY fast in your mind, you won't be able to get a good score on the listening parts.

I'd also focus on advance grammar, which was what I personally thought to be hardest on the JLPT2 test I passed. Get a Kanzen Master book focused on JLPT2 grammar and use that.

Without wanting to be rude .... it sounds like you are really going to find this exam tough. Haven't you already taken a good look at the paper by now? It really isn't something I think you can SRS your way through in under a couple of months.

For me, I've lived in Japan more than two years, have a Japanese girlfriend, read a lot in Japanese (Manga + Short Novels), can have a conversation in Japanese, have watched films in Japanese (and mostly understood. I really recommend Ikigami btw) yet I'm feeling like this exam really could be tough!

So, I guess my advice would be to not feel too bad about failing if that happens. There is a huge jump between level 2 and 3 and it takes time to cross.

If I were you though, I'd be hammering all the Japanese grammar points as fast as I possibly could, as to pass you are probably going to need to score high on grammar/kanji to offset listening and reading (The reading section is really tough, and difficult to find enough time).

Best of luck

Thanks for replies.

I have been in Japan for 1.5 years and don't have a problem with listening, assuming I don't hear some word lodged deep in the back of my mind and need to think for a moment.

My knowledge of grammar is sound, I just don't know some of the more obscure stuff. I get a whole range of different Japanese exposure. I guess I came off as trying to suddenly take the exam with no other experience, but this is not the case.

I bought some past exams today and a grammar book, so will start working my way through them.

According to wikipedia there are 1000 kanji needed for the test. I think I will knuckle down and finish KO and hope that sees me through. I wish I had the time to be thorough but I don't. I won't just move to recognition as I don't want to pass badly enough to stunt my normal Japanese progression.

Good! The practice tests will tell you where you need to focus.

Considering that JLPT is a multiple choice exam, a passing score of 60% isn't too hard to achieve, if you put in sufficient effort...

Good luck!

I have already completed RTK1 so no issues there.

Get a grammar book and go to town. I used the Kanzen Master book during my prep for 2kyuu... but I'm using どんな時どう使う500 for my 1kyuu prep and finding that I like it much better. It's got good explanations and the grammar points for both 1 and 2 (you can always skip the 1kyuu points in it for now - they're clearly marked). Just sit down and go through a few points whenever you have a spare minute and you'll be done in no time. There's still enough time to get through a grammar book.

The other thing that really helped me was the Kanzen Master reading book... it explains how to approach the different types of problems and what you need to look for in what order.

For vocab, I used the old excel@japanese thing, but attacking the vocab lists through the SRS of your choice should work fine

If you can nail a couple of areas that you're strong in, you should be just fine. Take a practice test to see where you need work and then focus your time on bringing up your scores in that area.

Which どんな時どう使う500 book do you have?

http://www.sasugabooks.com/images/sasuga/4872345894.jpg
http://www.sasugabooks.com/images/sasuga/4872346955.jpg

Are those the same? One costs more.

The 2nd (and cheaper) one is just a workbook. The other one is the actual text. It's well worth the investment, though.

shneen Wrote:Take a practice test to see where you need work and then focus your time on bringing up your scores in that area.

(and kfmfe04 said much the same thing).

I think this hits the nail on the head. I know this is an RTK forum so everybody's really big on the kanji side of things, but really you don't need all that many for JLPT2. The kanji part of the test isn't a huge part of the overall marks so it's possible to do acceptably with much fewer than the total number of tested kanji plus a bit of educated guessing. If you want to pass you've got to use your time intelligently, which means doing the bits which (a) you're weak in and (b) you can reasonably easily improve in.

With the past papers, pay attention to (a) the time limits and (b) the mark scheme, ie what weighting is given to the different papers. IIRC reading/grammar counts twice as much as the other bits.

jokoto Wrote:I put these kanjis in Anki and like it. It's a great thing to only have to learn 1.000 Kanjis instead of 2000. It's far less than half of work because reviews take a very large time, much more than actually learning new kanjis. You'll notice that when you learn more and more kanjis. You'll like to mark these RTK Lite (JLPT 2) Kanjis in your Heisig book,too:

Tis the opposite for me. The new kanji learning takes forever. The reviews are the easy part.

This might be helpful:

http://www.jlptstudy.com/2/index.html

Ehe, the lvl 2 section of this site is kinda hollow. I think the author has not finished 2kyu yet.

Thanks guys, I did a kind of JLPT practice test administered by my school, not a past test, but a slightly different test.

I was suprised how easy it was Kanji wise. I am at about 700 kanji through KO and I found that I could read 90% of the words. It was suprising to see how big the reading part was. I ran out of time as I made the mistake of going too cautiously at the start. Also I got my ass kicked by all the grammar. I have been leaving my grammar study until later and this really showed, even though I know almost everything that is used in general conversation. I think they deliberatly put in heaps of rare grammar to force students to get a really well-rounded knowledge.

In terms of listening it was pretty easy for me aside from some vocab issues. My countless hours of watching anime seem to be paying off.

Time to get stuck into the grammar stuff I think.

That's great! I too think that grammar is the hardest part! Do you think you had any chance to pass?

No I don't think so. I think I will get around 45%. I had no time for about 10 of the questions at the end and there were a lot I guessed due to a lack of grammar knowledge. Still, it was a confidence booster that I can past the real test, since I expect to walk in having fully studied all the grammar and with 400 more kanji under my belt.

Still, it wasn't exactly the same as a JLPT test. We were told it was the same level, but a classmate who had done the JLPT level 2 before thought it was easier than the actual test.

One thing I would really suggest though is to do the past years tests. For the reading you have to really tear through it. Part of this is learning what to skim and what to read closely. There is definitely an art to it.

thermal Wrote:I was suprised how easy it was Kanji wise. I am at about 700 kanji through KO and I found that I could read 90% of the words. It was suprising to see how big the reading part was.

Yeah, I was kind of surprised by this comment...

I've finished RTK1 and have been studying some JLPT2 vocabulary, but I'd be pretty lucky to get 80's on an old JLPT2 test on the Kanji/vocabulary part.

My personal experience with JLPT2, having done every test since 2003 I think (not for real, just training before I did the real test in 2007) is that they make the test slightly harder every year. I don't know if that's placebo or something, but I would say that if you do the 2007 test and get a good score, expect a slightly worse score on the next one (and of course, study to counteract this ).

A friend of mine who took the ２級 a few years ago said that the grammar is the most important thing to study. She ended up taking the test as a lark with a friend of hers who was studying all the vocab really seriously for months. My friend just picked up the kanzen master book 2 weeks before the test and crammed only for grammar. She ended up getting a higher score than her friend because grammar is worth more points than kanji and vocab, and the latter is easier to guess. Also, there's thousands of vocabulary words to learn, and only under 200 grammar points. So if you look at it from a time/benefit analysis standpoint, grammar pays off more. And if you already know the meaning of all the kanji, it's pretty easy to guess the meaning of words you don't know.

Grammar is worth the most points so if you only have so much time that is the best thing to focus on. Of course you have to understand all the words used in the question sentence too though.

Reading is the hardest section since it brings together all of the other sections (other than listening), plus has a really strict time limit.

Hey, you guys that have more experience. How many people do you know that took the 1kyu the following year after having achieved the 2kyu and passed?

I am under the impression that the original poster is done(nearly) with both books of KO2001. If he remembers all those vocab words wont he be good enough at least on the vocab part of the test? Maybe it is all grammar from here on out right?

You'd be surprised.

Similarly on the "read-the-kanji-without knowing-the-reading" methods, there's a lot of hiragana vocab in the practice tests I've been tackling, not to mention a LOT of words not covered by the KO books. (Sadly!)

I'm coasting around 66% at the moment on practice runs, really want to increase that comfort zone now.