Well, I got challenged by some coworkers to take Kanken with them, so I'll be taking 4kyuu in Feb. I'm not looking forward to creating the Anki deck for it.

Thats what I get for studying Japanese at work.

頑張って！ Exciting stuff to see you taking on 4級! You think you'll nail it on the day?

mezbup, i too registered to pass the ６級 in february. I received my results from the ７級 last week. I passed with 176/200. I didn't really study for this one. I basically did 5 or 6 test on kanken DS.
６級 will be more difficult. Like you, I have to learn the 部首 and the 熟語構成 section is really a pain.

To answer one of your questions : the kanken exam seems to be on June, November and February. February being the 3rd test of the year. (Japanese School Year)

Wow, I can't even take the kanji kentei, it's only available in two cities in all of Europe according to the official website. Sorry, I live too far away from London and Milano.

I take the exam in Paris....

deedo Wrote:I take the exam in Paris....

Official? Here's the official list of official places to take the exam:

http://www.kanken.or.jp/kojin/kaijyou2.html

afaik you can take the exam anywhere. You just need to gather enough people and find a proctor.

In Japan it's offered very frequently (several times per week) at certain centers with computer based testing.

Jarvik7 Wrote:afaik you can take the exam anywhere. You just need to gather enough people and find a proctor.

In Japan it's offered very frequently (several times per week) at certain centers with computer based testing.

That's good to know, hopefully there's such a place in the vicinity. (If not in Sweden, probably in Denmark).

Jarvik7 Wrote:afaik you can take the exam anywhere. You just need to gather enough people and find a proctor.

In Japan it's offered very frequently (several times per week) at certain centers with computer based testing.

Yeah, last time the guys I know had to go to Australia to do it because there was only two of them. This time there's 17 of us sitting it so we can do it here

Didn't know it was offered so frequently in Japan! That's awesome.

Edit: Just doing a buttload of data entry into Anki from KanKen. I'll have a passing grade for SURE next time I take a practice test.

Also, for those of you who have their percentage of correct questions stuck at something like 90+% and it wont move. Go and check the pie graph and it will show you in exactly which section those unanswered questions lie. For mine it's mostly the last 3% is in reading so all i'd need to do is just go all the way through the reading sections to find them.

So I just did a practice test after all of that and I got 153/200. I've got a passing grade on 6級, my week is a success. In just 9 short days i've gone from getting 88 to getting 153. Only mere matter of time before I'm scoring in the 180's.

I've nearly answered 20,000 questions! Seen 33% of 6級 and powering through it.

Out of interest, what's the Japanese take on the Kanken test? Not counting the scandal from this Summer mind you.

Japanese people get major respect if they hold 準2級 or higher. A foreigner having it blows their minds. Its hard to impress with jlpt since no japanese people have ever heard of it.

Jarvik7 Wrote:Japanese people get major respect if they hold 準2級 or higher. A foreigner having it blows their minds. Its hard to impress with jlpt since no japanese people have ever heard of it.

I find this to hold true. People generally tend to view someone who has ２級 as a person of high intelligence. If you have 準1級 you're either nerdy or super smart. Japanese people are really really impressed even if you have a low level as a foreigner so I can imagine the reactions to a foreigner who holds something like ２級.

This is true, my whole town office went apeshit when I passed 6級

Got 176/200 on 6級 today! Now that's a more respectable mark I've seen 43% of it so far. What's mainly lagging behind is opposites, reading, writing. Still have quite a bit to study in those sections but I'm going to nail this thing when it comes round in feb

Not to derail the thread, but does Kanken DS3 allow you to look up non-joyo kanji in the dictionary, or does it still give you the annoying "not within the joyo kanji" message?

I got 146/200 on ６級 last night. My first passing grade. I've only seen 6% of ６級. I still need to enter my kanken question in an SRS....

for xmas, one of my presents should be a dictionnary to learn the 四字熟語 for the ５級...

Well, I acquired the game along the lines that Tobberoth suggested. After figuring it out a bit, I can see how much fun it can be.

I don't see myself going at it like Mezbup and using it as a study tool. However, I do like this as a sort of self assessment so here's my current game plan:

1. Try 3 of the 40 minute tests in a row before moving up to the next level. Each question I legitimately get wrong, I'll mark the "My Kanken" block to refer back to later. I'll stop this if I get to the point I'm averaging less than 60% in a level.

2. After I "top out", once a week or whenever attempt one test per level from level 10 to my topped out level. If I reach 80% in a level I'll stop testing that one. Like before, I'll mark legitimately wrong questions for "My Kanken" reviews.

3. If I start consistently passing my topped out level, it's time for the next one.

After lurking around this thread for quite sometime I finally decided to buy the DSi LL just for playing Kanji Games and studying Japanese... Crazy right ? Anyway, I wrote the 2kyuu exam this month and also taking up the J-TEST (A-D Level) on January 17th and the Kanken on February 7th. I was thinking of being daring and applying for 5kyuu but after seeing the dreaded　四字熟語, I thought of 6kyuu... and then I took the 7kyuu mock test and got 118/200 and failed. So I have decided to take the 7kyuu for now. ^_^

@Katsuo (or anyone else):

Do you have a list of yojijukugo separated by kyuu? I can't find anything on the interwebs.

@Atreya: I'll also be taking kanken (4級) on Feb 7th. I took JTEST a long time ago and got level C. I took it as a test of current ability so I didn't study for the test at all (or study anything at all really) for a few months before it. Kind of a waste of time & money thinking about it now. I should probably take it again and get my revenge with a 特A rank Too late to sign up for Feb. 17 I suppose.

I don't know much about the test having never taken it but one of my students passed the 一級 when he was in second grade in junior high school.

His English is really good too. Guess he must be a language genius.

He must have been a robot. I find the story highly unlikely unless he is autistic or something though. He'd make national news easily if he passed 1kyuu in 2nd grade 中 and would know much more Japanese than any of his teachers. Maybe he meant 英検?

Jarvik7 Wrote:He must have been a robot. I find the story highly unlikely unless he is autistic or something though. He'd make national news easily if he passed 1kyuu in 2nd grade 中 and would know much more Japanese than any of his teachers. Maybe he meant 英検?

I'm pretty sure it was the Kanji test. It may have been 準１級 I'll find out for sure when I go back to work next week.

i had 183/200 today and did 29% of the ６級

mezbup : how about you? you should be close to 100%, right?

deedo Wrote:i had 183/200 today and did 29% of the ６級

mezbup : how about you? you should be close to 100%, right?

That's an awesome score! I've only seen like 57% due to taking a 2 week break over christmas haha. I'm slowly working through the rest of it