N4 or N3? The title and your post conflict xD

It's probably worth completing the RTK lite kanji (~1000 of them) that you haven't covered. It's likely to be around ~100 extra kanji for you.

I don't think there is a single book that will get you to N3 or N4.

Basically you're looking to learn a vocab of: ~1500-2000 (N4), or ~3500-4000 (N3). In addition to grammar to that level, which you could get from a variety of sources such as: Tae Kim (the entire site is close to ~N3), imabi, the lists on tanos, etc. You'd then need to polish on reading/listening.

It's tight, but probably doable. You could try going through Nukemarine's guide to N3 level and see where you get. Note that the guides 'around NX level' doesn't mean you will pass the test! They'll be some test specific grammar points and vocab to pick up.

I guess for a single book you'd be best getting an N3 specific grammar guide with exercises. Alternatively the DoBJG or Sentence Patterns for Effective Communication may be decent books for grammar, if you dislike the online resources.

Last edited by RawToast (2013 May 01, 4:30 am)

Jrc01 wrote:

I'm trying to go for N3 (but if I can't make in time, then I'll just take N4).

That's my method If you don't feel confident for N3, you should smash N4.

Jrc01 wrote:

How many kanjis do RTK provided actually (the one with additional 2010 joyo kanjis)? I learned it through Anki, and although I've reached the 1700th kanji, it still says that there are still 1000+ new cards (and this is also one of the reasons I quit RTK Lol).

The 6th edition has ~2100 kanji, I think the deck will have >3000 because it contains RTK3's additional kanji. If you have a standard 4th edition deck with over 3000 kanji, you should be able to suspend any kanji above 2100.

Jrc01 wrote:

What is DoBJG? Actually yeah, I dislike online resource (since I can't online all the time xD), but I heard it alot that Tae Kim is really good, maybe I should really check it. Do you personally think that 7 months (12 hours studying each day) is enough to study till N3 level?

Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dictionary-Basi … 4789004546

I'd say this would cover grammar up to N4 and a few N3 points. You'd need to find those it doesn't cover online. Whilst it's a dry read (it's a dictionary!) the grammar descriptions are the best around. You could probably get away with the Anki deck for it:
http://forum.koohii.com/viewtopic.php?id=11273

Personally, my goal was N4 after 9 months (I had to do RTK and kana in these 9 months) which would finish this July. I have the vocabulary (~16xx atmo), my grammar and reading ability is in between N4 and N5 and have 2 months and a week left.

I added vocab quite slowly after a while -- started at 15 a day, but moved to 6 to keep reviews under control,  and currently do only 3 because I am focusing on grammar -- so you could easily progress faster than me. Note that I work full time and often on weekends too (sucks ) so I tend to do 1 hour a day plus any listening (radio/music).

You can get to N3 level in 7 months, yes. You can even get a little above N3 (but not N2), if you study hard and then also spend most of the free time left in a Japanese immersion environment.

As for the methods, look around this site (and others - I would suggest sites that discuss language learning in general, not just Japanese), try out some of the methods that look appealing to you, and eventually pick the ones you're gonna stick with. There's no point in someone telling you exactly what to do. This whole site is full of people giving that kind of advice: you have to pick from among them yourself.

Why are you taking the N3, btw.? Is it for a specific purpose, or just to test your Japanese ability? Even if it's important that you pass, you should leave JLPT specific material for the last month before the test. Before that, just try to study Japanese.

And if it's just to test yourself, then there really is no point to studying JLPT specific material at all: why game the test that you're evaluating your language skills with? It defeats the purpose.

Last edited by Stansfield123 (2013 May 03, 8:04 am)

Stansfield123 wrote:

You can get to N3 level in 7 months, yes. You can even get a little above N3 (but not N2), if you study hard and then also spend most of the free time left in a Japanese immersion environment.

You mean like spending time chatting/talking using Japanese in social network?

As for the methods, look around this site (and others - I would suggest sites that discuss language learning in general, not just Japanese), try out some of the methods that look appealing to you, and eventually pick the ones you're gonna stick with. There's no point in someone telling you exactly what to do. This whole site is full of people giving that kind of advice: you have to pick from among them yourself.

Why are you taking the N3, btw.? Is it for a specific purpose, or just to test your Japanese ability? Even if it's important that you pass, you should leave JLPT specific material for the last month before the test. Before that, just try to study Japanese.

And if it's just to test yourself, then there really is no point to studying JLPT specific material at all: why game the test that you're evaluating your language skills with? It defeats the purpose.

I've found some books that people usually use to reach N3/N4, but in case there are still some really great books/material that I'd consider to use, I also ask some suggestion here. But yeah, I do really agree with what you say.

I'm going to take Monbusho scholarship, and the requirement in my country is that if I can't reach the minimum score of the national exam, I'm still eligible to apply if my JLPT level is around N4 (for specialized training program) or N3 (for undergraduate program). Actually N4 is already fine since I'm going to take the specialized training one in the end, but I thought if my JLPT is more than that, maybe it'll be a bonus score and I'll get higher chance to receive the scholarship.