pm215 wrote:

Splatted wrote:

I have just started on the Kanzen 3kyu grammar book, and I'm wondering if it's meant to have a companion book or something. It seems like it might be geared more towards applying what you know to the JLPT test format than learning the actual grammar.

The format of the Kanzen books is more of a "review and drill" book than an initial reference. The assumption I think is that for at least the more complicated points you have learnt most of the grammar from a textbook or some other reference (although for the simpler things that are just obvious from the examples KM alone can be sufficient). So if you feel like the explanations are a bit minimal then yes, I'd recommend finding another reference/textbook/whatever to use alongside it.

Ok, thanks. Hmmm, I can't decide whether to get another book or not... I guess I'll just going with KM while I think about it.

Here you go: http://www.3anet.co.jp/english/books/books_06.html
The full set of 新完全マスター books for N1 and N2.

Here's the Unicom webpage in case you want to know what those books look like.
http://www.unicom-lra.co.jp/ja/ja.html

Sou-Matome
http://www.whiterabbitpress.com/product … ctid=16810

The thing with vocabulary is that... really, any vocabulary is good. There is no vocabulary that's really better than the other, and I even found myself learning vocabulary from KM 2 grammar. The only true concern is if you double up and buy 2 books that are mostly the same thing. Eventually you'll probably pick up a practice test book, and with that you'll get an idea of what vocabulary is used in the test and you can add words you don't know into your SRS.

I wouldn't dawdle too long over which company to use, though. I'm sure the differences between KM and Unicom and Sou-Matome are pretty insignificant in the long run. I'm lucky because I have several Japanese bookstores in my area; otherwise I'd probably just choose the cheapest one.

novagon wrote:

All right, so I'm about to sign up for December. After a decent hiatus from more serious study, it'll be a good way to get on track again. I am however unsure of whether I should go for N1 or N2. I feel pretty confident in my recognition abilities; took the N1 問題例集 over at jlpt.jp and did quite well. Reading this thread, though, and seeing what people who have studied longer than me (bit over 2 years) are generally aiming for makes me question whether I'm not underestimating the actual test. Thoughts welcome.

Time studied doesn't really indicate anything... Take some proper practice tests?

Congratulations on passing N1! I'm glad we both passed our exams in London. Such a relief. But I'm not quite done yet with the testing.

@Nagareboshi: I don't know your actual Japanese level, so I don't know which books you need. That's why I bought N1 Reading and N1 Listening even though I'm going to take N2. You can take the N3 or N2 sample tests on the jlpt.jp website and figure out what you need.

Grammar is a must. The other 3 depends on you.

From a language mastery perspective, you can use any vocabulary source.
From a test-taking perspective, you probably want a book that covers vocabulary that is used on the test to be sure you got most of what you need to know. You can only really know once you take a test to understand your deficiency.

KM vs Unicom vs Soumatome is splitting hairs. You'll be fine with any of them.

I'm really glad to hear the new test is more reading-oriented. Maybe it's just me, but I'm just fine with listening and reading, but the one-sentence grammar and vocab questions trip me up more. I blame it on not having as much vocab as I should for my level, yet I get away with it because I'm REALLY good at inferring meaning when I even don't know quite a bit of the vocab if it's in a larger context, like an article or conversation. That's probably because my Japanese study is only reading novels and watching dramas (without subs) and I tend not to look a lot of words up, so I'm really good at just taking it all in and making sense of it. Maybe I'll finally be able to pass N1 next year! Last time I took the JLPT it was before the test format revision and the kanji section KILLED me.

signed up for the N3 in london, working through the so-matome books (kanji, vocab, grammar)   I've seen most of the grammar before, I think i've only come across 2 things this week I didn't already know.  Vocab however... wow my vocab level sucks.

Extremely late, but I finally got my N2 scores from this summer. In Japan now, so there was a huge postal delay from England to NC to my dining room table, to me finding out what the actual numbers were.

N2 Pass:
文字・語彙・文法：33/60
読解：29/60 <-- this surprised me, because I thought I totally bombed it at the time.
聴解：45/60
合計：107/180

Yes, you fill in the bubbles with a #2 pencil just like other standardized tests.
I bring 3 of them, already sharpened, just in case I break the point twice.

They give out some very detailed instructions somewhere...

however, despite the warning that there was no clock, (and so I went through the trouble of stopping to buy a wristwatch that I never wear), there was in fact a clock on the wall and even if there wasn't, they proctors call out the time remaining at suitable intervals.

Bring your card, sit where your number is, no studying once you're in the exam room...

Make sure your cell phone is turned off! Having it ring or buzz is a violation.

Last edited by SomeCallMeChris (2011 November 29, 12:30 pm)

Yeah, you definitely want to bring an analog or other no-frills watch with you, so you can keep track of time. Experience taught me that the best way for *me* to do N2 was to start with the reading section (because I sucked at it), and then do grammar, because I could rush through that slightly better than I could at reading. Even so, I was filling in bubbles up to the last second.

I *really* had to manage my time carefully, and figure out what questions I wanted to make sure I answered first-- I thought of it as test triage. 3 minutes reading a section for 1 question, or 4 minutes for 2 questions, or 5 minutes for 3 questions? What's the best use of time? Considering that the scoring is a fancy black box, it's a tough call. (Well, scoring is really a competition against everyone else, but that's another discussion.)

But I figure if time is an issue, it's better to answer more questions than fewer, so I can get more shots at the black box. If I wind up with no time left, and I have to guess, I'd rather guess at the 1-question sections than the 3-question sections. (Not that I had to, just saying it from the point of view of how I approached the test.)

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.

Last edited by Jarvik7 (2011 November 30, 7:32 pm)

Jarvik7 wrote:

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

I guess I'll rephrase, I did a JLPT a few years ago with no way to tell the time until a call out for the last 5 mins. So if anyone wants to know the time left for sure, then take a watch...

I didn't have one then and it was kinda off putting even though I wasn't pushed for time and passed easily.

Last edited by caivano (2011 December 01, 12:03 am)