I'm seriously consdering to take the JLPT 4 ths year in Mexico City and I'm doing quite well in the kanji department. In just a month and a half I've practically relearned the hiragana that I left half finished back in 2001 when I entered college and I'm finally starting to learn kana.

In my free time I'm learning the JLPT 4 vocabulary but Grammar is my black horse.

I took some Japanese lessons in 2001 but it was only for 3 months and we mainly covered hiragana and very basic grammar. Is there a reliable way for me who doesn't have that much free time to get decently good in the grammar section for the test?

I still have up till late September to register for the exam to rethink my (I know, crazy) idea of giving it a shot because with how college is going, the next tme I'll have the time to do another JLPT will be in 2010.

Is there free grammar sections of the test out on the net, or would I have to buy the preparation books (I'm short on $$$ too, so I'd like to be wise in this sense). If I knew what the instructions are and how the questions are really like, I could start really practising in real time and not lose those precious minutes on the actual test just trying to read the instructions. Thanks!

And as for giving JLPT 3 a shot, I think I won't have enough time.

While not JLPT 4 specific, Tae Kim's Website is a great resource for grammar.

Edit: Oh, if I remember correctly, when I took the ４級 the instructions were in English and Japanese. I took it in America though.

Hi Sailornyanko,

Take a look at the Meguro Language Center web page:
http://www.mlcjapanese.co.jp/Download.htm

Here you can download plenty of info for all JLPT levels. Towards the bottom of the page you will find pdf files for JLPT4:

1 - Kanji list
2 - Vocabulary list
3 - List of Kanji appearing in past tests
4 - List of vocabulary appearing in past tests
5 - List of grammar points appearing in past tests

I'm sure this will help.

Cheers,

Tom

http://www.jlptstudy.com/ should have some useful resources for you.