I took the N2 in July and did the N1 online for practice and noticed that the style of the grammar questions has changed. In the past, the questions were almost always ones where you have four grammar `points` to pick from, and it would look something like

こんな単純な作業を３時間も続けるのは、つらい______。

１．くらいだ ２．ものがある ３．あまりだ ４．ほかない

All of the grammar books have questions like this and this is how they appeared on the actual exams.

However. Now they still have the four options to choose from but they`re not like the ones you find by going thru the index in the back. For example, from the N1

この美術館の絵を全部見ようと思ったら、半日______足りないと思います。

１．にわたって　２．にかけて　３．までは　４．では

Now, the first two are covered in N2 books and the other two before that, but its still tricky. None of these are in the books as までは...ないと思う or something for you to just memorize the pattern. Now you sort of really need to understand the grammar as a whole. A smart move in guaging high levels of language ability, but more frustrating to study for. I`m still just going thru my grammar books and trying to understand all of the nuances and situations where each point is used and trying to be more flexible with their usage.

I guess my point is, for those studying past exams and all of the practice books, don`t get too comfortable with the former style of plugging stuff in, you`ll need to really process stuff this time. There are still some of those to be found, but not like it used to be.

(btw, the answer is 4.では)

Alright, confidence boost for the ever approaching N1 exam that I thought では before I even read the choices.

I have no experience taking the new format, so I can't comment for another... oh man it's only 3 weeks away huh? I should probably pick up the study pace. Damn books and other stuff being more interesting than textbooks.

Where did you take the test online? I'd love a practice run through the summer N1 exam.

This thread has the summer N1 although no question papers for the listening section, you`ll need to use the transcripts and try to only read the questions for the first couple of sections and ignore the rest.

I thought it was 3. :{
But I'm not taking N1 this year. :o

julianjalapeno Wrote:I took the N2 in July and did the N1 online for practice and noticed that the style of the grammar questions has changed. In the past, the questions were almost always ones where you have four grammar `points` to pick from, and it would look something like

こんな単純な作業を３時間も続けるのは、つらい______。

１．くらいだ ２．ものがある ３．あまりだ ４．ほかない

What's the answer to this one?

I think it's 2, but maybe it's 4... But the more I think about it, the more it could just be any of them...

(I feel less stupid asking this since my wife, who is Japanese, doesn't know the answer either...)

Uh, am I alone in hearing the first one end in ことだ (not even one of the answers), but the second is so very obviously で、では、or じゃ that it's not even slightly challenging?

I've never studied specifically for JLPT, just sat on my ass and watched anime...

Taurus Wrote:

julianjalapeno Wrote:こんな単純な作業を３時間も続けるのは、つらい______。

１．くらいだ ２．ものがある ３．あまりだ ４．ほかない

What's the answer to this one?

I think it's 2, but maybe it's 4... But the more I think about it, the more it could just be any of them...

(I feel less stupid asking this since my wife, who is Japanese, doesn't know the answer either...)

This question came up in this thread; I think it's 2, as I said there.

Agree with pm215. This is actually covered in Kanzen Master 2 kyuu-- see Section 172 at p. 99: 彼の話し方にはどこか強引なものがあった。

Oooppss!! Still agree with pm215 that 2) is the correct answer to julianj's first Q, but now see that julianj was really making a point about his second type question NOT being in Kanzen Master.

pm215 Wrote:

Taurus Wrote:

julianjalapeno Wrote:こんな単純な作業を３時間も続けるのは、つらい______。

１．くらいだ ２．ものがある ３．あまりだ ４．ほかない

What's the answer to this one?

I think it's 2, but maybe it's 4... But the more I think about it, the more it could just be any of them...

(I feel less stupid asking this since my wife, who is Japanese, doesn't know the answer either...)

This question came up in this thread; I think it's 2, as I said there.

Thanks!