rich_f wrote:

@zigmonty

How much trouble are you having with the KM2 grammar sentence vocab? Because you might want to bolster your vocab if you're not getting a lot of it.

Nah, i can understand the example sentences, but there are more than a few words that i now know courtesy of KM. I mean, 救援物資 is a term i would want to learn at some point, but i question whether it was really necessary in a sentence supposed to be illustrating a grammar point. I don't have any real desire to read the news or the like at present, so learning vocab purely to understand a grammar example feels a bit dumb. Now, if those sentences used obscure control theory terms, i wouldn't mind.

It's possible that i only think the ALC books have easier vocab because i'm doing them after KM (i didn't feel a couple of sentences per point was enough in a lot of cases). But imho, the ALC example sentences feel like they were designed to illustrate the grammar point in a more or less i+1 fashion (in that they're teaching you the grammar point, not a word you probably don't know as well), whereas the KM ones felt like random real sentences they found that happened to contain that grammar (which many may consider a pro). Very subjective though, and like i said, possibly as a result of the order i did them in.

Probably worth making sure you have some non-fiction type (essay) reading in your routine if it's not there already.

I still haven't quite decided whether to take 1級 this year. I got 53% for vocab/kanji, 63% listening, 66% reading/grammar on the 2007 test I took with no preparation. I've since gone through almost all of the old JLPT1 grammar points, and I think I should be able to improve on the reading and listening too, but I'm kind of worried about vocab/kanji and in particular the new format's per-section minimums. Does anybody know what sections they divide the test into for purposes of applying minima? Is it (kanji+vocab) together, or separately, and do they throw in anything else too?

I sat the N2 in Beijing on the 4th of July. The sections were divided as Captal wrote.

captal wrote:

according to the official site, kanji/grammar/reading are all together in one section for N1/2 and listening is a separate section. (N3/4/5 have 3 sections)

Well, kind of. I found this pdf on the official site which says that for purposes of points, N1 is divided into kanji+vocab+grammar = 60 points, reading = 60 points, listening = 60 points. These divisions are what that document calls 得点区分. Section 3 of this page then says that you need a passing mark in both the 総合得点 and 各得点区分の得点.

Interestingly, for N4 and N5 the 得点区分 are kanji+vocab+grammar+reading=120 points, listening = 60 points. (N2 and N3 are like N1.) So the division into different papers and the division into different scoring sections are completely unrelated.

Anyway, for me this is excellent news because it means I can hope for a good score in grammar and an adequate score in vocab to shore up my lousy score on kanji :-) Now all I have to do is decide whether I really want to spend 70 quid to take the test.

(Public service announcement: applications to take the 5 December 2010 test at the UK site (London) are open from now until October 7th.)

pm215 wrote:

(Public service announcement: applications to take the 5 December 2010 test at the UK site (London) are open from now until October 7th.)

Another public service announcement- if you're taking it in Australia, applications are only open until August 27th! So get crackin'! http://www.jpf.org.au/jlpt/contact.html

I ran the link for the N2 stuff through Google translate (always interesting), and I think you have to register and post a comment on the N2 thread to get the link to show up in it on that Chinese website. I might try it with a mail account I don't care so much for and see what happens.

Ah, wait. I forgot. This is just the audio bit and the answers. Dunno where the questions are.

Link is in the post here:
http://forum.koohii.com/viewtopic.php?p … 46#p110946

Last edited by rich_f (2010 August 18, 9:42 am)

To Buddha...er I mean Buddah,

1) I think only 104 kanji are needed for N5 so you will have learned 1938 more kanji than you would of needed to.

2) The grammar points for N5 are really simple and you only need 800 words. (or around there) the HARDEST part of the test is understanding the questions which are located here:
http://www.jflalc.org/?act=tpt&id=8

3) The deadline for signing up is 24th of September. (Or 22nd I know it's in the 20's) and the test is on Saturday, the 5th of December.

I never took the "real" test for N5 but I did learn Japanese in basic JLPT order so I know what my difficulties in preparing for the test. I think you should relax, the test has a 60% pass rate and most people are able to prepare for the test successfully in 3-4 months on average. I wouldn't do RTK until after N5 honestly though. One reason being that you only need to reconise them not write them and secondly the few kanji needed for N5 are not complicated so you could probably memorise them in a weekend. Maybe you could do the method of RTK and but in N5 order?

Here is a grammar list (with ro-maji and kana versions of explanations):
http://www.e-japanese.jp/grammar4.htm

Here are flashcards for the entire JLPT N5 (old 4):
http://www.manythings.org/japanese/voca … jlpt4.html
(doesn't see to work for Mac :\)

Here is some vocabulary helpful videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODQoRrrmeeo


I would:
1) learn hiragana and some vocabulary words
2) learn katakana with some vocabulary words
3) Learn the kanji (only reading) study WORDS not readings...it's half the work especially since you have only 800 words
4) Study all expressions (http://www.jlptstudy.com/N5/)
5) Study all 800 words, (http://www.jlptstudy.com/N5/)
6) Study grammar (via looking up what is needed and searching for it on Tae Kim...or just do Tae Kim...)
7) Then take the practice test online (http://www.jflalc.org/?act=tpt&id=25)
While doing all the steps above listen to J-music.

I would start RTK again right after N5, after that I would use Minna no Nihongo 1-3 then どんな時どう使う. (I actually used Genki and it is not as good but it's cheaper)

You would only need 30 minutes a day from now to the test to get a good score.
Good luck and have fun!

(Tell me is I missed anything )

FWIW- it's quite easy to go from zero to old L3 (N4) in 3 months. If you really want to take it, I'd skip RtK for now and learn what you need for the test.

Funny thing is I'm in Melbourne, but I've applied for N2 on the Gold Coast I'm moving up there in a few days- working holiday definitely makes it hard to pin down a place to take the jlpt.

"Funny thing is I'm in Melbourne, but I've applied for N2 on the Gold Coast  I'm moving up there in a few days- working holiday definitely makes it hard to pin down a place to take the jlpt. "

I can relate to that, I may be moving to Texas so I'm taking a risk. :s

"when do the results come out?"
Like most standardized tests, there is no exact date but it's usually months afterwards. (according to some who have taken it.)

captal wrote:

FWIW- it's quite easy to go from zero to old L3 (N4) in 3 months. If you really want to take it, I'd skip RtK for now and learn what you need for the test.

mayyyyybe... if you had a lot of free time and concentrated on recognition and no production. I would rather do N5 thoroughly in that time frame though tbh.

but as someone said the pass mark is 60%, so you really don't need to know *all* of the vocab and grammar (I got an easy pass and I didn't know all of the vocab or grammar)

Man, I didn't realize how much I depended on the internet until I lost it for 2 days...

Anyways, thanks for all the feedback.  Some excellent resources in there I'm gonna check out.  Still not sure what I'm going to do yet, as passing the N5 seems like it won't feel like much of an accomplishment, and I doubt I'll have the time to study up enough to pass the N4.  I'll work myself out a plan though and see how things go, I've still got a couple weeks to make a decision.  Worst comes to worst, I'll skip it, spend a year studying, and see where I stand when the test comes around then.

But thanks again for the info.  Helped a lot.