Tzadeck Wrote:I suddenly have a bad cold... which probably won't help my last-minute cramming for N1, haha. I can't really bring myself to study, but I seem to have the energy to read news stories.

Anyway, I hope I'm recovered for the actual test on Sunday.

Better sleep a lot, that usual gets me out of a bad cold in a few days.

Jarvik7 Wrote:I don't think there is much point obsessing over bringing a watch.
Personally I did no time management when I did JLPT2/1, BJT1, JTEST, etc. It is a distraction/stress-inducer and a time waste to constantly be looking at your watch and calculating time remaining. If you are so close to the limits you might want to rethink what level you are taking (or brush up on standardized test taking strategy). You should have a comfortable amount of time left at the end to check answers if the test is level appropriate and you employ proper test strategy.

They write the time remaining on the board every 5-10 minutes anyways.

Agreed. My approach to the N2 last year was the same as it is for all tests: work quickly without rushing. Pay attention and don't skip over important stuff but never allow yourself to dawdle or get stuck on a question. There's a middle ground between getting distracted and drawing pictures of trees in the margin and panicking every 30 seconds that you have 30 seconds less time left.

Finished the reading/grammar paper with 10-15 minutes to spare. I had no watch and had no idea how far into the time limit i was. It didn't matter. I had no intention of optimising which questions i answered to maximise points. I intended to answer them all and i did. I'd done enough practice exams to know my pace was adequate.

Most important thing is time management in the reading section. Read the questions first, otherwise you'll end up reading through everything twice, and lose a lot of time.

nadiatims Wrote:Most important thing is time management in the reading section. Read the questions first, otherwise you'll end up reading through everything twice, and lose a lot of time.

I actually find it much easier to read the text first, then go through the questions. I have no clue what-so-ever if I read the questions first, but when I've read the text beforehand everything seems to make sense (at least for the most part).
Each to his own I guess...

I agree with both of the previous posters...
If you're the sort of person that can read a three paragraph long description of a presidential debate, and then correctly answer the question 'What color tie was the XYZ party candidate wearing?' Then by all means, read the text first.

I'm not that that sort of person, so I would have to re-read (or at least re-skim) to match up which candidate was wearing which color tie (a fact that I would almost certainly blip out in favor of, you know, things like which party each candidate belonged to or their political stance... )

Last year I did encounter a small handful of examples where all the answers were in the first few lines of a rather long text, which saved some reading time (although I still felt I had to skim down to make sure it wasn't a trick where the answer changed later in the article...) That's not a very common case though.

^ JLPT questions are not like that tho... they question you on the ideas not little details.

caivano Wrote:^ JLPT questions are not like that tho... they question you on the ideas not little details.

this

For the reading passages where there is just one question, especially the ones with graphs, I think it's best to read the question first as you can then directly search for the answer. For the longer ones though I think trying to remember what the questions are can confuse your reading a bit, it depends on the individual though I guess.

I want my results already...

end post

Ah yeah, they should be coming out in a few weeks, shouldn't they? I totally forgot about that... probably because I figure I completely bombed the N1. XD But it's all good. I'll take it again in a year or two... probably two.

Passed N1! Not the greatest results especially when compared to the native speaker friend I took it with, but I'll take the pass.

Total 116/180

Lang Knowledge
44/60

Reading
36/60

Listening
36/60

Congratulations!!

Anybody knows when the results will come here in Europe?
I've never taken the JLPT before, so I really don't know what to expect.
I'm really hoping late February...

Passed N1! 134/180.

mikedough2 Wrote:Passed N1! Not the greatest results especially when compared to the native speaker friend I took it with, but I'll take the pass.

Why did a native speaker take it? What did he get?

mikedough2 Wrote:Passed N1! Not the greatest results especially when compared to the native speaker friend I took it with, but I'll take the pass.

Total 116/180

Lang Knowledge
44/60

Reading
36/60

Listening
36/60

Good job. I wasn't expecting them this soon considering the application materials said it would most likely be ２月の下旬. You made me go check my mailbox again. The website says Japanese results were mailed on Tuesday. Usually stuff gets to me next day within Japan. You're making me all worried.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day at work since the results are pretty much guaranteed to arrive, but I have literally nothing to do all day.

fakewookie Wrote:Passed N1! 134/180.

mikedough2 Wrote:Passed N1! Not the greatest results especially when compared to the native speaker friend I took it with, but I'll take the pass.

Why did a native speaker take it? What did he get?

Congrats!

She got up in the 160s total and listening was 60/60. I guess heritage speaker would be a better word? She's half and grew up in the states but spoke Japanese at home so she still has trouble with reading some kanji, but is otherwise native level. She wants to be a Japanese teacher in the States and she sees it as a certification to get a job back home.

Passed N4!
Language Knowledge: 110/120
Listening: 58/60
It was so easy after all
Aiming for N3 on July...

Failed N2. 62/180

Language Knowledge 21/60 -- Vocabulary B -- Grammar C
Reading 20/60
Listening 21/60

I knew I was going to fail beforehand because I didn't even make it through 4 lessons of kanzen master but a part of me really hoped I'd scrape by. When I took the test I was only done with 2500 from core6k and went through genki 1, genki 2, Intermediate Japanese (AIATIJ) , That particles book... and thats about it. I need to use my japanese more and improve obviously.

erlog from a different forum Wrote:My cram strategy for N1 tomorrow is to not cram and continue not finishing my reading and listening drill books. I really need to finish Heisig and Kanji in Context. I'm so close to being done with both of them. With the changes they've made to the test it seems like it's a lot less viable to cram for the test since so much of it is reading.

erlog from a different forum Wrote:N1 didn't feel good at all. Listening felt somewhat okay from time to time, but my reading and vocab need work. I'm at the point where 大体分かる just doesn't seem to cut it anymore. It's good enough to play video games and watch TV shows, but not good enough to answer the JLPT questions. There's always July I guess.

I'll be happy if I end up with 35%.

I was correct in my estimation of results within half a percentage point, and indirectly correct about which sections I would do poorly on. I got 35.5%.

29/60 Vocab & Grammar
17/60 Reading
18/60 Listening

So right on the edge of minimum passing score for Reading and Listening with an almost okay score for Vocab/Grammar. At that point I was only 80% of the way finished with Kanji in Context. I hadn't been drilling reading and listening. I have recently decided to focus on reading and I will continue to do that. My preparation for Kanji Kentei should also drive that Vocab score up around the 40-50 range. So there's a real real decent chance I'll pass the next round in July.

Passed N3!
Language Knowledge: 45/60
Reading: 37/60
Listening: 51/60

Total: 133/180

Passed N1!!

I took it in July too and failed miserably so I was expecting the worse, but I got a mail from my Japanese school telling me that I passed it this time

I don't know the exact breakdown yet because they are forwarding the letter onto me. So happy!!

Congrats to everyone who passed so far, and my best wishes for the next try for those who didn't.

If by some fluke I pass N1, then yay. If not, then I'll probably take it sometime in 2013, because I discovered two important things: 1) the way I studied for the JLPT (N2 in particular) really messed up my Japanese which leads to 2) I need to focus on getting my Japanese to be more well-rounded and useful, rather than worry about passing N1. It took a lot of work to undo all of the damage I did to it.

If having good all-around Japanese leads me to passing N1 as a matter of course, then whoopie.

rich_f Wrote:If by some fluke I pass N1, then yay. If not, then I'll probably take it sometime in 2013, because I discovered two important things: 1) the way I studied for the JLPT (N2 in particular) really messed up my Japanese which leads to 2) I need to focus on getting my Japanese to be more well-rounded and useful, rather than worry about passing N1. It took a lot of work to undo all of the damage I did to it.

Perhaps you would like to elaborate in the "Don't repeat my mistakes" thread?

N1 results back:

Vocab/Grammar: 52/60
Reading: 42/60
Listening: 30/60
Total: 124/180

I can't hear for shit and don't know how to ask for the restroom but I can finally move on to bigger and better things.

Feels good, man.

kusterdu Wrote:

rich_f Wrote:If by some fluke I pass N1, then yay. If not, then I'll probably take it sometime in 2013, because I discovered two important things: 1) the way I studied for the JLPT (N2 in particular) really messed up my Japanese which leads to 2) I need to focus on getting my Japanese to be more well-rounded and useful, rather than worry about passing N1. It took a lot of work to undo all of the damage I did to it.

Perhaps you would like to elaborate in the "Don't repeat my mistakes" thread?

I'm interested as well has to how it damaged your Japanese...unless you learnt the wrong meaning to words or something...

DevvaR Wrote:

kusterdu Wrote:

rich_f Wrote:If by some fluke I pass N1, then yay. If not, then I'll probably take it sometime in 2013, because I discovered two important things: 1) the way I studied for the JLPT (N2 in particular) really messed up my Japanese which leads to 2) I need to focus on getting my Japanese to be more well-rounded and useful, rather than worry about passing N1. It took a lot of work to undo all of the damage I did to it.

Perhaps you would like to elaborate in the "Don't repeat my mistakes" thread?

I'm interested as well has to how it damaged your Japanese...unless you learnt the wrong meaning to words or something...

Yeah, i can't imagine what he's talking about. Studying for the N2 a couple of years ago, using the normal books etc, was the best thing i ever did for my japanese. Did it help my speaking? No, and the fact that i focused on the test rather than japanese in general means my speaking ability was retarded as a result. But the focus, goals and structured materials lead to an explosion in my ability to understand. It's no more "damaging" than RTK is... focusing on one skill rather than all simultaneously because of perceived efficiency benefits.

Undoing damage? Seriously? What book were you learning from that taught you wrong stuff?? I do remember you being obsessed with passing *now* even though it was out of your reach. I can see how that'd lead to shortcuts that aren't helpful in the long run. But surely you're exaggerating.