@kodorakun Check this thread:
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=6646

Or just go back to page 4 or 5 of this thread, I think. I don't remember the precise phrase I used in Google, but it was just the Chinese version of whatever JLPT is. Just make sure your antivirus is up to date.

@Sebastian: Ouch. At least you don't have to fly the plane! I'm just worried about falling asleep and driving into a tree... at 70 mph.

I could go into this test with a much lighter attitude if I could take it more than once a year, I think... well, that, and I feel like a freakin' guinea pig for the new questions.

@Seizar:Thanks for your reply!!!(i never got a post that long from someone before xD)

Anyway,i just wanted to explain a few more things,my situation is actually a lot like yours like you say,just that some things are reversed.Me and you probably have the same starting points,before RTK i was already at basic grammar level and have studied kana,knew about 50 kanji,and i used to watch a lot of anime and stuff.me and my friend started at the same time but i focused a lot more on japanese than he did,so now im pretty sure im far ahead of him,so he's not planning to take the N1 yet,he just threw the challenge at me(what you said about competition is unfortunately true:S),he would probably take the N3.Im also studying chemical engineering at the moment so next year will be hell!Anyway,thanks for your motivation and letting me know it is possible(im still curious to know your result though,can you PM me or something?xD)

@phantombk201
you really think that you can win this challenge?????
and you should have mentioned that you don't have any subjects next year or at least the next 9 months
you know that I'm 100% sure that you are going to lose this challenge and even your senpai is almost sure but he wont tell you this

@phantombk201
You know what? Whether you can do it or not is irrelevant. If it works for you as motivation, then it's all good. Just keep in mind that the odds are stacked high against you, and stay somewhat realistic about it.

They offer the test every year, so even if it doesn't work out, there's always next year.

rich_f Wrote:@Sebastian: Ouch. At least you don't have to fly the plane! I'm just worried about falling asleep and driving into a tree... at 70 mph.[/url]

Update: The flight was originally at 7:30 AM, and when I wrote last time it had been delayed until 2 PM. Now it was delayed again until 4:30 PM, which means a total of 9 hours of delay. I'm glad I'm taking the flight today instead of the day before the test.

Quote:I could go into this test with a much lighter attitude if I could take it more than once a year, I think... well, that, and I feel like a freakin' guinea pig for the new questions.

I like Buenos Aires, but I hope from next year on they offer the exam at my country too.

For your sake, I hope they offer it in your country, too. 9 hours is too many hours to kill in an airport!

I hope you have some study materials.

EDIT: Just did the Listening, and got 66% right on that. Hmm... I blame the audio quality. >_>a

Oh and I loved the intermission music. That was hysterical. I'll have to try not to laugh during the Real Thing.

So it looks like I *might* be able to pass, so long as I don't bomb the reading outright... *if* I get questions that are favorable-ish to me. If not, I'm screwed. XD

2 days before the test and I got sick. Above all I have to work tomorrow. No time to recover at all.
Why, oh, why?
Oh well my first JLPT experience will be a horrible one then, I guess.
I always wanted to know what my ability is when I'm half-dead. Taking and passing the JLPT when you're fit everybody can do anyways, right?
*sigh*

Trying not to think about the 200$ and all the years of studying right now (-_-) ....
I know the test is not everything, but still ....

Am I the only one who'll take the test half-dead?
That's why I didn't want to take it in December, but I missed the July application deadline by one day this year

What i'm worried about keeps changing. I was worried about listening... till i started doing practice JLPT2 exams, then realised i'd easily pass... until i start doing new N2 stuff...

Reading, i wasn't worried about until i saw how little time you had to do it in the old test. Then i got myself to the point where i could pass that section in the time allowed. Then i find out you have way more time on the new test.

Grammar i've always been pretty good at and thought i had most of it solid, then found out they've beefed up the grammar questions in the new test. Sigh. And they have a knack for testing the 10% that i'm unclear on.

Vocab and kanji i never thought i'd be worried about (RTK+Anki FTW), until i find out they've got no worries about putting JLPT1 words on the test. And then there are those questions where you have to pick which sentence is correctly using the word. I can normally get them down to 50-50 but...

Sigh, i think i'm still looking at a pass overall, and i shouldn't come close to bombing any of the sections individually. But i don't have the level of confidence i was hoping for a year ago when i decided to take this test.

Chochajin, Last month when I took the SAT I was sick to my stomach studying so late for it. XD Drink LOTS of water. Eat a slice of ham before you start and during the break. Emergency (Forgot how the pun is spelled) is a drink I used and it is really great. 頑張ってください！

zigmonty, Oh there is more time for the reading section? *happy dance* That's great news. But the grammar section seems less like something you could cram for -- which is bad news for me.



　

I've decided not to really study specifically for the test this year as I did for 3級. Just doing my anki reviews and going through DIJG has been helpful though.

I'm really unsure if I'll pass or not- I was feeling pretty confident after taking the July listening section a couple months back, but now I'm not so sure. I'll go take the July test and either feel a lot worse or marginally better

I've pretty much decided that all I'm going to do from here on in is just try to keep all of the grammar and kanji in my head (not anything too extreme), and do nothing but work on listening drills, because I think that's the one section where I can really shine.

When I took the July N2 last night, I found that I breezed through the grammar section okay, but I slowed down considerably when I hit the reading section, to the point where I didn't finish the last 5 or so questions. And the last reading selection was easy, too. I probably got a little too hung up on some of the harder grammar questions, and some of the thornier reading questions, and just wasted time. I have to learn when to fish, and when to just cut bait.

I think what I'll do on Sunday is go through the grammar section with all deliberate speed, and jump right into the reading-- but I'll scan the reading section first to find the low-hanging fruit, and save the tough stuff for later. Gotta get the sure points where I can. Even if they're worth "less," less is > 0.

Since there is freedom in the test we have the choice to choose which order to complete them. I guess we should just go for the easy questions first and then move onto the harder ones. Would it be better to work on grammar than a long passage? I'm not sure how to do the actual testing part -- particularly since this test has been remade.

Try taking the July N2 under time limits and see how it goes. That's probably the best way to figure out where you're wasting time. I found I was wasting time on problems I just didn't know the answers to, no matter how long I dithered over them, and instead lost time I could have saved for questions I could nail pretty easily.

It's all pretty hit-and-miss, really. If they ask questions about things I know (i.e., using 2級 vocab, and not 1級 vocab), then I'm fine. But if they start going into the land of 1級, or just 2級 stuff I'm weak at, I'm screwed. It's just one of the problems of picking just 75 questions to try to gauge your Japanese grammar and reading ability off of. (It's kinda dumb, if you ask me. There should be at least 200 questions.)

Yeah I just took the July test (minus listening). Not so good. I feel like I get an ok overall meaning of the reading passages, but then the answers within don't always make sense to me.

If I pass it'll be due to a great listening score and passable marks on reading.

At this point I'm only reviewing vocab (and some kanj).
I did all that was possible in the time and if I were healthy I think I could pass, but that not being the case I'm not sure. I'll just try to enjoy the test and see how it goes
My average passing rate of N2 style tests so far was: 81% - so that SHOULD be okay (but I was not sick when I took the mock tests ;P)

I'll go to bed early and try to get as much rest as possible. I have a 8hour working day and a 4 hour train ride ahead of me tomorrow before taking the test on Sunday.
I hope my body will last that long.

I wish everybody good luck

So i was doing some N2 style listening questions in class today (out of a red book?). They seemed waaay harder than the questions on the old JLPT2 (i regularly got 70-80% on listening on the old JLPT2 exams). Some of them were hard and confusing to the point where i didn't get them right on *reading* the damn script (my reading is easily my strongest skill). I'm *hoping* that book is just excessively hard but i fear it's just that the N2 listening has gotten way harder than it used to be. I'll take the July N2 test as some last minute practice tomorrow... There's a chance my reading and language knowledge scores will cover for my listening but i'm looking at big points to need to make up.

kodorakun Wrote:Where are these audio files for N2 that I keep seeing people refer to "taking"?

I just found it here:

http://www.jpxue.com/kaoshi/erji/zhenti/9628.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_La...iency_Test

Seems like N2 is considerably easier to pass than 2級, which is a bummer actually. It would be better for my ego to fail on a hard test than fail on an easy one.

@Ghostman:you're going to take the N2 and im taking the N1,the higher score wins!!Let's see what you can do!!

thurd Wrote:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_La...iency_Test

Seems like N2 is considerably easier to pass than 2級, which is a bummer actually. It would be better for my ego to fail on a hard test than fail on an easy one.

Um, what? The link you provided under the "Results" section shows that the July N1 has a slightly higher pass rate than 2009 and the N2, slightly lower.

edit: just saw that is for overseas- looks like percentages went up for people taking it Japan, which is a good thing IMO. It seems to be a test that tests actual Japanese now, instead of just ability to memorize kanji and grammar.

Since the new N2 is bell-curved so that ~45-50% of test-takers will pass, instead of the old 2級, where a significant number of test-takers could be screwed by bad question-writing, well, I'm not surprised at the higher number of passing students. In fact, I welcome it, considering all of the wasted time and effort when you fail N2-- you don't get anything to show anyone where your Japanese ability is. It's a stupid way of testing Japanese language ability in the first place.

I don't care about or any sort of "prestige" in the sense of "oh, the old test was harder." I just want to be able to show Interested Parties what level my Japanese is at, and it shouldn't have to be an ordeal to do so. (Because there are a lot of companies, etc., out there who require some sort of "proof" that you can speak the languages you say you can speak. Otherwise I wouldn't bother with this.)

I suppose if you really want to show off, though, there's always KanKen 1級.

Anyone else has this feeling that another month would be exactly what they need to pass?

I think I'm exactly on the edge and it can go both ways very easily.

*raises hand* I am getting an average of 70% on grammar at the moment but listening comprehension is going to be my worst nightmare incarnate.

thurd Wrote:Anyone else has this feeling that another month would be exactly what they need to pass?

I think I'm exactly on the edge and it can go both ways very easily.

Yes, it will come down to whether i can cover an abysmal listening score with the other sections (with an outside chance that i miss the listening section minimum). I agree that the new format for the listening is better, the old style was way too easy. Hence i've done fairly minimal work improving my listening. Unfortunately, i became aware of the difference in difficulty way too late and haven't done nearly the preparation needed to do well on it. I really suck at taking notes while listening and that's going to hurt me.

I guess the question is where on the bell curve do we sit...

Something just came to my mind (quite late, I know).
Japan is one of the first countries to have the test (timewise) - apart from Australia and some other Asian countries, of course.
Most European countries will have the test 8-9 hours LATER than Japan, for example.
Basically it's possible that the people who already took the test tell the people in other countries about the contents of the test before they actually take it. Right?
Isn't that a little bit unfair? ;P

Anyways, I'm leaving now (8h work, 4h train, bed, test), so I wish everybody good luck for tomorrow