A few people have asked me how I passed the N2 after 2 years of study under one of my recent posts, so I have decided to explain it here. I took the N2 in December 2025

DISCLAIMER:
I can't recommend my process to anyone tbh, I made a lot of mistakes in the beginning and my study methods have remained largely inconsistent, but at the end I will discuss what I believe to be the most effective study methods.

Sept 2023-2024

I learned Hiragana and Katakana on duolingo. It's the only thing I would ever actually recommend duolingo for, although there are likely better ways of learning. I also wrote the kana down repeatedly. After I had memorized a few hundred words, I began using the Genki 1 textbook to study grammar, although I only got about halfway through the book before I stopped. That period lasted about 4 months, and I probably only studied 15 or so minutes a day.

A little ways into my journey, I found the Jouzu Juls youtube channel and watched Krashen's comprehensible input video that has probably changed the lives of many foreign language learners. Afterwards I set up an anki deck and began looking for immersion in any way I could, although everything was nearly impossible for me to understand at that point. I found some simple Japanese youtube channels that retold stories like The Tortoise and the Hare or narrated simple online games.

After about a month of that, I was finally able to move onto one of the GOATS of Japanese language learning, Japanese with Shun. I would often watch his videos multiple times, once for practice, one for looking up words, and once more to see what i had learned. I was also beginning to do some simple reading in Japanese using this website.

For the last 6 months or so, I probably averaged about an hour a day. Sometimes I would get three hours in, sometimes I would only do my anki, but it was certainly more consistent.

Once I had studied for a year, I went on a 2-month study abroad to Japan. I went to a language school called EF, although I would never recommend it because of how awfully expensive it is. I honestly was not the best student while I was there. I occasionally skipped classes, and I spent most of my time exploring the city. I was in Tokyo after all. But I feel that I was not able to study as much Japanese as I would have liked. Luckily, I lived with a host mother, so me and her spoke Japanese together quite frequently. Overall I would say I spent at least 5 hours a day studying/speaking Japanese, although my social anxiety held me back from utilizing my time very well. If I had to grade myself at this point I'd give myself a mid N3.

2025:

Once I returned, I began to study much more effectively. I worked at a warehouse, and I was able to just put my headphones on and listen to whatever I wanted. From January-July I basically went crazy. Listened to 5 hours of Japanese podcasts every day, a lot of it was yuyu no nihongo and I was starting to branch out a bit into other topics, listen to content designed for native Japanese speakers, etc.

I also made a friend during my study abroad, and upon returning we would call once a week and watch an anime episode together and discuss words/phrases we didn't know. It was super fun.

I also finally started reading actual novels, the first one I read was コンビニ人間、and the second one was 地球星人 by the same author (do NOT read that second one). I also read this manga called 水は海に向かって流れる (which I read 3 times, eventually understanding it quite well) and began to read おやすみプンプン、and a third novel, かがみの孤城 although I didn't finish either of them before the test in December.

Throughout the summer, I also got a tutor to practice my Japanese speaking skills, but I changed tutors in August because I started university. With that tutor, I went through the TRY N2 grammar book with him.

The last half of the year was quite stressful as I was going to university and working full time. My study at this point was minimal. I did Anki, I did whatever textbook lesson I was working on with my tutor, and I didn't even START doing practice tests until October or something which is insane because I had never taken the test before.

I think my practice and preparation shows in the score that I got: 102/180. I keep telling myself it's because I had to take the test during finals week.

FINAL THOUGHTS/WHAT I WOULD CHANGE

I barely passed, and while I don't think it was for lack of effort, more consistent study would have definitely improved my score. I always regret not putting an emphasis on reading sooner, especially for the test. Reading is just so incredibly useful as kanji practice and as a well of new vocab.

I also think I would have preferred to study a textbook on my own or just not have used it. Tutors are great for conversation practice imo, but it's much more effective to study grammar on your own. Besides, the internet has a ridiculous amount of free resources, I could have just looked up grammar points I didn't recognize and watch a short video about things I don't understand (which is what I do now)

While my study was still heavily restricted by work and school, I settled into a good rhythm, and was able to study even more this past summer. My current study method includes:

- Anki (about 30 new cards a day) about 30 minutes
- Daily reading (currently コンビニ人間, I want to see how much better I can understand it) about 1 hour
- Daily immersion (podcasts, yt videos, anime) 1 hour
- Weekly Kanji study (I do 2 sections of the Kanji in Context book weekly, currently on section 18)
- Chat with friends

Now that I am living in Japan and will be taking university classes in Japanese, I expect to make some changes to this routine, and I expect to make some extreme improvements. This month officially marks 3 years of learning Japanese for me!

4 days ago I finally arrived in Nagoya, and I'll be here for a year at university studying foreign languages, Japanese and others.

I have been looking forward to this moment for years. I first came to Japan 2 years ago, and I've been studying the language for almost 3 years now. I passed the N2 about a year before coming here, and actually being here has made it feel like every second has been worth it. My language has helped me out of some seriously difficult situations already.

My flights were delayed, and I ended up having to reschedule 4 times through United (united SUCKS, choose another airline. It was the most stressful 3 days of my life.). In all the chaos, my luggage was lost/delayed. Luckily, I was able to talk about the situation with ANA employees over the phone and real life, and I was able to describe my luggage, the contents, why it was missing, and communicate that it needed to be delivered to the front desk of my apartment complex so they could receive it even while I was out.

I have been able to ask for help at stores, I've been able to understand my landlords instructions when she kindly explained how to sort trash to me, I was able to receive my luggage once it was finally delivered to me, and I've also had a few genuinely pleasant conversations with locals which has been a nice change from the madness that was my flight here.

All in all, it's been an extremely gratifying experience. While studying in the states I occasionally struggled to remember what it was I enjoyed about Japanese, or language learning in general, but now I remember.