Just got back from the JLPT2 this morning.

1. Vocabulary: no harder than old tests
2. Listening: only 14 picts and 13 no-pics, that's a few less than usual
3. Reading/Grammar: they modified the grammar section - I thought it was easier than usual

By no means did I ace this test - did some dumb mistakes in section 1, and like always, there were few in each section that I had to guess, but I felt that I had to guess much LESS than usual. Usually, I expect my Vocab and Listening to pull up my below-60 Reading/Grammar section, but I actually think there is a good chance I got 60+ across the board.

Sidenote: there were postings here and there on the Web mentioning that 2007 was so hard that they may cream puff 2008. I didn't believe it at first, but now, I tend to agree.

Any comments from others on JLPT2 or JLPT1?

You creamed the JLPT2? Does that make you native level then? Because I hear you have to be above native level to pass JLPT1...

Don't just read the title - reread my posting, carefully.

No offense, but lucky you don't have to take an English reading comprehension test...

...oh, and I don't consider myself moderately effective at Japanese unless I can pass JLPT1. IMHO, if I did so, it it would put me on the lowest rung of fluency: enough to get by without major misunderstandings.

I thought the reading and grammar for 2-kyuu were easier this year than they have been in years past. It felt like they took the complaints about last year's test to heart, but they did it in a weird way. They still had some really hard questions, but they made the easy ones even easier. There was very little in the middle. It was either obvious or tough as nails.

The vocab section is a little harder than usual. The listening section with pictures is significantly harder than years past. The listening section without pictures was a pushover with lots of obvious answers. The grammar section was the easiest section of the test, and the reading was easier than some other years I had seen. I understood the general point of every passage. There weren't very many that were too abstract. They usually like to put one highly philosophical one in there that nobody, not even natives, can follow. It can still be tricky, but I found myself outright guessing a lot less. Surprisingly, I finished the reading and grammar section 10 minutes early. I worked the test booklet backwards to make the best use of time.

The best advice I can give is that if you clearly don't understand the question then guess and skip it. Don't spend any time trying to puzzle anything out outside the reading section. It won't work. If you don't know it. Staring at it isn't going to help you know it.

As well, here's a simple way to ace the graph questions in the reading section. Don't bother with what the graph is about. Look at the answers first, and underline the places where the 4 answers differ. Then go one by one to check them against the graph to see if they're right. Don't even bother reading them. Just look for the graph labels and 減る and 増える then match it from there. Those should be easy points if you work them them very logically.

I feel good about it. I probably passed. My scores for past tests were on the edge, but I found that I was very sure of myself for lots of questions on this one. I'll be surprised if I don't pass, but I will not be surprised if I only pass by a small margin.

Also, do remember to bring a watch or timekeeping device if only for the periods between tests. My friend and I had to leg it from a McDonalds 2 blocks away at 1:13 because we were ***** stupid. We made it in time. All was well.

Nice, detailed assessment, erlog.

I agree that the grammar part felt uncomfortably easy - many questions felt like they fell out of the UNICOM book that I was studying. Even with a lot of studying, usually, there are a handful in grammar that I have totally no clue how to answer. That handful didn't materialize today. You are also right about the reading section: there is usually one or two that is extremely hard to understand, but this time, they all looked "doable" (even though some were hard).

As for the listening section, usually there are several more questions where you had to "infer" what the proper answer should be. Those were missing, too. At first, with a large room (9seats/row x 15 rows=135 students, but about 20% didn't show up), I was afraid sitting too far in the back would be a problem in the listening section. Well, I ended up in the middle of the third row and they were blasting that boombox - no way I would fall asleep in the middle of the listening section.

I also noticed several repeated questions from the old tests, both in the vocabulary section and in the grammar.

Thanks for those test-taking hints - I will take them to heart when I study for the JLPT1.

Listening was all right, there were 4 questions I had my doubts with.

文字・語彙was pretty easy (thanks to RTK, Heisig, and this site!!!)

文法と読解 was kinda tricky, the ol' go back later and recheck the incomplete questions was a bit tricky. Anyone else think the graph one was super easy??

kumadondon Wrote:文法と読解 was kinda tricky, the ol' go back later and recheck the incomplete questions was a bit tricky. Anyone else think the graph one was super easy??

The graph did seem too easy (hope it wasn't a trick question) - I've seen graphs in some past tests where I couldn't figure what they were trying to say (even with no time limit)...

I had five minutes left after the last section (more than normal for me), but I got stuck trying to figure out if I made the right choice for the first reading with the three blanks.

Yesterday I practised on the 2級 test from 2006 and it went ok. But today I don't think I passed.
Vocab and Kanji went ok bewteen 60 and 70%
Listening: the picture questions I found to be difficult, maybe only 3 correct. The questions without pictures were easy.
Reading: I haven't studied that much economic related words yet so the first text was hard for me. The penguin one was easy. The rest I already forgot.
Grammar sucked but that's because I only studied half of the grammar preparation book.
So all in all maybe around 50-55%.
Wondering if I should take it again in half a year (it's already from next year they have it twice in Japan right?) or aim for 1級. Just thinking about it money wise. I thought they had made it more difficult so we all would go and take it again in summer, but since everyone else so far seems to think it was easy, it must be my own fault. hehe.

Well, I wouldn't call it easy, outright. It just seemed easier than some previous tests: a bit cream puffed... I tried most of the old tests from 2000-2006 for practice.

I think this girl (thx shneen), named Maky, reserves the right to call JLPT1 easy:

http://www.jlptstudy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482

Here were her JLPT1 results from 2007:
文字．語彙- 80
聴解 - 73
読解/文法 - 182
TOTAL 335 / 400 = 84%

She got a 91% on her 読解/文法!!!
In contrast, I just think I cleared 60% on each of the sections in JLPT2.

In another thread, she mentions what she did to study for JLPT1:

http://www.jlptstudy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=513

If you read the thread, you will see that she worked very hard to get that 91%.
But it's helpful to know that it's at least possible...

I just got back from taking 1級.

I found it to be pretty much as difficult as I expected. The second half of the listening was quite the bitch though.

I didn't do horribly, but I doubt I passed. I simply didn't study all of the grammar for 1kyuu, so it was a huge loss of points that might have otherwise saved my score.

How did everybody else find it?

I did １級 today too. Like someone on another thread, I decided it would be a good idea to go out drinking last night. Probably not the wisest decision but they do put the test in the middle of the 忘年会 season.

I took 2級 a few years ago and this is the first time I've taken a JLPT with a decent amount of reading experience under my belt. I spend most days reading articles, books and whatever, and it occurred to me today that for the reading section of the exam, I think they deliberately choose articles that are difficult to understand. I always imagined that for ４級 they choose easy stuff, ３級 they widen the scope a bit and for 1級, anything goes and you'd get a random selection. I now think that for １級 they deliberately look for articles where an author is giving an opinion that is usually pretty vague. I thought a lot of the articles were poorly written. One of them was interesting but the rest were pretty dull I thought.

For me 語彙 is always a nightmare and I'm hoping that I managed to balance it out with better performances in other areas.

kfmfe04 Wrote:Well, I wouldn't call it easy, outright. It just seemed easier than some previous tests: a bit cream puffed... I tried most of the old tests from 2000-2006 for practice.

I think this guy, named Maky, reserves the right to call JLPT1 easy:

http://www.jlptstudy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482

Just to set the record straight, Maky is a girl I went to college with her. She definitely knows her stuff... she managed to do the jump between 2 and 1 in a year, and I know she worked her tail off to do it. The advice she's posted over on jlptstudy is pretty spot on when it comes to prep.


I took 1kyuu and definitely didn't pass Thanks to a crazy work schedule this term, I was nowhere near ready.... I thought the listening wasn't bad... and neither was the grammar and reading.... vocab is what's going to kill me. There weren't many that I was absolutely certain of... and while I can probably make pretty good educated guesses for the rest, I don't think my vocab score will be all that great..... oh well. Here's to round 2 in July!

wrightak Wrote:I now think that for １級 they deliberately look for articles where an author is giving an opinion that is usually pretty vague. .

Find me an opinionated article where the author isn't vague.

All in all, the difficulty of the test just fueled me to study even more. If I came back and thought "damn I caked that test", I would certainly be less motivated to study. Taking that test and realizing there is a LOT more for me to learn will drive me to learn more.

?Nothing fails like success because we don't learn from it. We learn only from failure.?

shneen Wrote:Just to set the record straight, Maky is a girl I went to college with her. She definitely knows her stuff... she managed to do the jump between 2 and 1 in a year, and I know she worked her tail off to do it. The advice she's posted over on jlptstudy is pretty spot on when it comes to prep.

Doh! Thanks for straightening me out!

At least we have some point of reference - if you work like crazy, there >MAY< be a chance to going from 2 to 1 in a year, but maybe up to 2 years is more reasonable. I will follow her posting/suggestions. Just glancing at the books, I can clearly see that I have to nail down a lot more vocabulary before I even get somewhere with reading comprehension.

Kanji is covered with Heisig, but I am missing all the readings and the gazillions of Jukugo that go with the Kanji, so maybe I will focus there first.

I like Maky's suggestion of going over Kanzen Master 3 times - for both 1kyu and 2kyu... ...sounds painful, but if it's possible to get a score like hers, it's gotta be done.

It's definitely possible to do it in a year, but yeah, it's a lot of hard work.... I didn't quite make it Maky worked pretty hard to get there... but she scored similarly high on 2kyuu when she took it a couple of years ago, so she had a really good foundation to work from.

readings/vocab was definitely my biggest downfall today. So I'd also say start there and allow yourself enough time to get through a couple of vocab books. For me, grammar was the easiest to pick up, just because when compared to the number of vocab words, there is relatively not much to learn I almost made it through my grammar book (どんな時どう使う５００） twice... and it's really not as bad as it seems. I picked up a lot on my second go around... and I was making anki cards with the grammar point and an example sentence on one side, meanings and notes on the back... but didn't quite get finished with it before the test. I could really tell the ones that I'd hit the second time around in the book (plus seen them a few times in anki) as opposed to the ones that I didn't get to.

kazelee Wrote:You creamed the JLPT2? Does that make you native level then? Because I hear you have to be above native level to pass JLPT1...

Nah. You have to be around fluent level to pass JLPT1, not native. No adult japanese person should be even close to failing JLPT1. I doubt they would consider it easy, but easily above 80%.

I think I did worse on the kanji than on all the practice tests I did...I actually didn't answer two questions....I got surprised when they called time...whereas on the old tests I'd finish with ten minutes to spare and usually get 75-80%. But the two I didn't answer were in the correct usage section, which was my worst section on the practice tests anyways, so no huge loss. And I missed a freebie katakana question...about　オートバイクのオイル I filled in あぶら and then thought "oh wait...I thought someone told me あぶら was only food oil and it was a trick question and guessed something else :/ (I've never heard anyone go get their oil changed and asked for an 油交換！）

I did bad on the reading like on the practiced tests (I almost always need the other sections to pull this score up). I didn't really get the penguin one or the supply and demand one. And on the graph I had some trouble.

The picture listening was so-so...there were a few I didn't really catch. Also, the ruffling of papers made it hard to hear the first part of the question when people turned the page. The multiple choice listening was better...hopefully I got 10 of them right.

And I thought the grammar wasn't too bad.

So I'd guess my score is between 55 and 65. So 50/50 on passing.

I took the ２級

The kanji readings section was a breeze, as was the second half of the listening section. If I had made a special point of separately memorizing the meaning for each grammar term I'm sure it would have been easy too.

Unfortunately on Thursday I caught a cold, then on Friday my girlfriend of 4 years broke up with me, which led to me drinking heavily on Saturday night, which caused me to spend all my money and not sleep. So on Sunday, with only 2 hours of sleep and no breakfast because I couldn't afford it, I took the test with a cold, a hangover, and a broken heart.

One of the proctors felt pity for me and gave me her muffin.

I took the test in Gifu city, and I think I was the only non-Asian person in my testing room.

I accidentally left one of the questions on the first section blank, which I didn't realize until after the pencils had to be put down. The reading comprehension section was difficult for me, but I liked the one about the penguin.

I took the test in a suburb right outside of Tokyo.
Non-Asians probably made up about 10% of the test-takers.

But there were a couple of interesting test-takers for 2kyu at my location.

The girl sitting in front of my was an American with a Korean last name (Kim), around 14 I would say. Whenever there was a break, she would pull out an English novel.

But the strangest test-taker had to be what looked like a 7 year-old brought in by his father (who looked French; his mother could possibly be Japanese). Quite possibly, this kid was born and grew up here (but qualified as a foreigner - correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think natives are allowed to take the JLPT). Anyhow, 2kyu has to be a challenge for any average 7 year old.

Nonetheless, I don't know if I should admire this kid, or feel sorry that he has a father who put him up to this. BTW, that kid looked like he was reading some Japanese novellas during the breaks.

I did 2級 and found it to be overall around the same level as 2007. I found the kanji and vocab part and the listening to be harder than last year, but the reading part was easier. Since I am strong with listening and kanji/vocab I will probably only lose about 10 marks accross both of them. However I think compared to my 2007 score on the reading section I will get 40 points or more. I got 70% on 2007 when I did it by myself, so I am feeling really confident to pass. Yay!

I'm just hoping I pass. I know that if i don't, I'll want to take it again, just to pass. And I don't want to take it again.

I liked the penguin one, too. I almost laughed out loud. (I almost laughed out loud on a couple listening questions, too.)

I'm really glad it's done. This was my first go. But having done a lot of the previous tests, it felt about the same. Except, I felt more confident about the grammar/reading than the kanji/vocabulary and it's usually been the other way around. I was really surprised with how easy the grammar felt. Of course, easy feeling doesn't mean high score. I tend to just forget about the ones I don't know.

Here's to hoping we all pass and that we can all forget about it until the scores actually arrive!!


Had a nice party after the test with friends.. a belated thanksgiving... so I'm nice and toasty now.

Anyone who took it in Japan want to give me some 'helpful hints' ( ) before taking 2級 in a few hours？




*I am kidding of course and think cheating on proficiency tests is especially lame

Does passing the JLPT have any practical benefits or is it just a confidence booster?
1級 is no longer used for Japanese college entrance.

Has anyone passed 2級 and it actually helped to land a job? I have never seen a listing in Japan or the US where it was asked for. There is a monumental leap in skill level from 3級 to 2級 but would anyone who has not taken the test know that? It doesn't seem to have much usefulness except to test one's own progress.

bodhisamaya Wrote:Does passing the JLPT have any practical benefits or is it just a confidence booster?
1級 is no longer used for Japanese college entrance.

Has anyone passed 2級 and it actually helped to land a job? I have never seen a listing in Japan or the US where it was asked for. There is a monumental leap in skill level from 3級 to 2級 but would anyone who has not taken the test know that? It doesn't seem to have much usefulness except to test one's own progress.

JLPT2 and 1 definetly gets you jobs, even JLPT3 if we're talking about baito.

There are lots of websites aimed at foreigners which display ads for workers in Japan, and pretty much all of them has a JLPT requiredment, 80%+ of the time it's JLPT1 but I've seen some JLPT2 ones as well.

Ah, that is good to know. In the past I would mainly look at gaijinpot.com and the publications in the Kansai area aimed at gaijin.

BTW...What is it to "Cream Puff" something? I have never heard that expression before.
I Googled it but nothing came up in verb form, slang or otherwise.