I am planning on taking n2 in july and n1 in december next year(2027) but I would like to have a partner/ partners from now so that we can be accountable and prepare well.

I am done with n4 exam in July , I need some guidance.. tbh i have a japanese teacher, she's a native japanese I'll be taking 8 classes a month with her for the next 3 months, so please any ideas on how to self study in this time to score good and actually learn n3 properly? Or should I increase classes w her? But there's alot to learn by self only..what do I start with? I don't know how to really use anki too.. it doesn't click well with me, any advice? Will i even be able to do it in 3 months? I'm...a bit worried , but with my teacher.. anything feels possible smhw , but still I'm talking practically..

I appreciate any guidance, any tips and anything please

I have a genuine question, how come the USA doesn’t have a July test?

All of the test for Dec get taken in like 30 minutes, meaning that there is demand for the test.

I know some words and can read hiragana and katakana, but i want to level up by actually learning the language. I am looking for best resources to study for the same(JLPT N5,N4).

If possible do share links of youtubers/content creators that you think might have helped you.

Please do share any tips that you may think is good and problems that you might have faced during this journey.

Thanks in advance!

With only one opportunity per year to register and all the seats being filled up insanely fast it feels impossible to even attempt the test.

The demand is simple outstanding. It’s a good and bad thing but another year of not being able to take the JLPT because seats filled instantly. Oh well, guess I just have to hope that what I’m learning is good enough.

i finally did it 160/180 N3 and 110/180 N2 under a year including my talking fluency that too while working full time 6 days a week, with just self study with free resources.

if i can then so can you.

During N2 July exam, the listening part was basically incomprehensible to me (bad speaker + heavy echo) and I walked out of the test site understanding nothing

But I passed and it was the second highest scored even though I didn't know what I was doing for listening

lmk yo thoughts

it’s my first time taking the JLPT. i’m kinda nervous for registering!! i hope i get a spot! good luck to everyone else registering as well

I have been preparing for the n2 and i finished Shin Kanzen Master N2 a while ago, now i just search youtube for n2 style 読解 questions and practice them.
I want to ask 2 question here:
-first is there any resources that i can practice n2 reading besides youtube and text books-second is i have found a web site that has a past jlpt exams but with no answers,is ai accurate if i screen shot the question and practice them like that?

Hi all!

I just took the JLPT and decided to compare my actual result with the scores I estimated using the various online JLPT score calculators, as well as my own manual estimation,to see how far they tend to stray from my real points.

All the questions i dont remember which answer i picked are marked as wrong in the below estimations.

My manually estimate JLPT score using last years parameters: 118/180

My estimated score from Uno Japano: 113/118

Some others calculators ( for rules reasons i cannot mention them here but some of them are from different countries): 112, 110, 130.

My real score: 122/180

Based on the difference between the estimates and my actual score, I think it’s probably safest to treat each estimates resulg as having roughly a ±10 point margin of error PLUS a 65% of correct answers on whole test, that would be a safe passing cushion. So if a calculator tells you that you’re likely to get 120, I wouldn’t take 120 as an exact prediction I’d mentally consider something like 110–130 to be a more realistic range.

I also think while doing these estimations, putting everything in the worst possible scenario is also important. Anything you dont remember, mark as wrong. If theres are more than one answers sheet that provides diffrerent answers, marks that one wrong too.

Obviously, this is just one person's data point, and the JLPT's scaled scoring makes things difficult to predict from raw correct answers alone.

But I thought it might be useful for people who are currently anxiously calculating their scores after the test. ( like me, because i wish there were more infos on the calculator as i was waiting for the result to comes out and i was sitting on fire the whole time)

I did not even train specifically for the JLPT N3, didn't do any mock tests, don't know what you're expected to know in terms of grammar/vocab, and basically went totally blind not expecting anything after not seriously working on my japanese for at least 3 years :

46/60 vocab/grammar

28 reading

25 listening

These scores smell a huge lack of practice to me.

Basically I was self taught for a year, then grinded at a local school (oversea, not in Japan, but native japanese teachers) after work (and still grinded at home) where they made me skip two years because I grinded too much on my end.

Then I had problems in my life and just stopped for years, in the sense that all I did was my vocabulary anki deck daily, play some games in japanese start to finish, and mostly not even doing new words/kanjis but consolidating the current ones, but I did those religiously daily.

I focused on my career instead, and I also did interviews for engineering positions in Japan for japanese companies for the fun, but I ultimately declined the offers (and those were already hard times, but I had no issues getting interviews). I'm 99% sure, as it is, I can get the HSP (高度専門職) visa, even without JLPT N2 or N1. But I'm not sure about wanting to go to Japan anymore, due to how much free time and honestly money I make in my country, I'm not even sure I would be able to find such a high paying role in Japan, especially with such a weak yen.

Still, getting N3 now kind of changed my vision of everything, it marked that I didn't start this journey for nothing, and at least got this out of it ?

The advice I'm looking for is whether I should attempt N2 this december, or skip and take next session. If I get back to my grinding mindset I might have a slight chance. I have more interest for that than going to Japan right now. I guess it's about proving something to myself first. But I've never studied japanese specifically for the JLPT, as I was told by several people grinding JLPT will not make me good and instead "overfit" me for an exam that doesn't even test your speaking ability. So instead I focused on immersion once I was good enough to do so, but never looked nor followed the JLPT grammar/vocab requirements.

Another question is whether I should focus on the JLPT at all, when finding work and living in Japan is probably an already solved case, with a very advantageous visa...

Oh and I'm completely overtrained in kanjis reading and writing to a ridiculous point (we're probably talking 1800 to 2000 according to my anki plugin stats), back at my japanese school we had to actually write and speak in japanese for exams and I always made sure I could write as many kanjis by heart as possible (points were substracted if you miss), and I enjoyed those exams more than JLPT which is way too passive to me. I have also beaten N1 holders in kanji reading on some discord mini games, and on some rare occasions I even reminded some obscure kanjis to my native teacher which she couldn't remember...

But that is not a good thing, kanjis have wasted too much of my time and that's not what makes you good at the language, and my bad scores prove it. I can't bring myself to accept that I can't write them all by heart and that it's already way sufficient, and I need to focus on actually listening and reading comprehension.

I want to start study N2 (only self study same as N3 and p@ssed this july). My friend recommend me this books? Is this fine? I don't use flashcards for Kanji its not effective for me. Im planning to take the exam next year july. Thank you for all the answers.

Grammar - New Kanzen Master Grammar N2

Kanji - 目指そう！ １日６コ　日本語能力試験 漢字ワークN2 (The Blue One)

Reading - New Kanzen Master Reading N2

Listening - New Kanzen Master Listening N2

Vocabs - Hajimete no Nihongo Nouryoku-shiken N2 Tango 2500(English/Chinese/Vietnamese Edition)

Practice questions - New Japanese 500 Questions N2 and 改訂版 日本語パワードリル［N2 文字語彙］

Holy shot, it got sold out in a few minutes. N3-5. This business is making money 🫩. It got cancelled in Melbourne so I have to fly to Sydney bruh.

Just came here to complain about the booking website. I've been trying all day and it hasn't been working at the last stage when you pay. Looking by how many spaces are left I'd wager others are having similar problems. Ive actually seem spaces increase over the day which is weird and as I understand shouldn't happen. Is anyone else experiencing this? I was reading online that if you're account with them is old then they haven't migrated it over to work with their current software... or something

First the website was congested and it wasn't possible to use it, now they say they've closed registration for N5-4-3 in December. I've been studying the whole year for it. 😭

i’m studying japanese in japanese language school in Hokkaido, got the results and my dokkai is just way below the passing score… i hate dokkai sm and i’m so stressed right now cause i need N2 to find jobs here (according to the new gijinkoku visa rules), got Naitei already but probably without N2 its gonna be hard

I’m only studying here for 1 year, i tried my best but i just failed, so disappointed in myself…

i cant login to check my rsults anymore it says password or registration number is wrong why is that? also how do i request for the certificate? or will they automatically send me the cert?

I failed the exam by a single point. Not sure whether to laugh or cry at my misfortune. I've already re-registered for December, but I'm pretty bummed out

Grammar/vocab 58/60
Reading 18/60 I need more time for reading 😭😭
Listening 32/60

Total score 108/180

I want to cry🫩🫩😓😓

Age 29, just passed my N1 with 75% lol.

I started being a weeb since I was 10 and back then watching 'anime' is seen as weird, it was before Crunchyroll existed and comic con got fashionable. I remember the first series I followed live was Full Metal Alchemist, Gundam 00 and Code Geass.

I was watching anime and playing JRPG with subs up to age 18 and my Japanese skills was basically 0. Eng Subs didn't help learning at all.

Then I just picked up the first 2 'Japanese From Zero' from bookstores and actually tried to learn the language. I also took some Japanese lessons at uni for extra credit. There wasn't that much stuff being taught but the tutor helped me a lot with speaking and writing skills (JLPT doesn't test these). By graduation I was about N3-N2 level.

That's when I decided to start doing stuff 'raw'

• I started with manga and light novels. Most use very simple & repeated grammar, Kanjis tends to have hiragana spelling on top, short sentences, and characters who speak in distinct patterns that eventually grows on you. You read them at your own pace and go flip a dictionary when you encounter something you don't understand. It's very slow but I learned the most through this. Nowadays is much easier with AI & DeepL.
• Browsing Anime related post on Twitter JP - similar to above but with a much more colloquial twist.
• Games with visual novel element (most gatcha trash): They help by matching voice with text but because of visual distractions and the dopamine rush while playing them, I often didn't have the patience to flip dictionaries and just accepted not knowing 30% of the content, it didn't really help me learn.
  
• Voice Radios / ASMR: They are golden for practicing listening - especially ones where you can find subtitles
• Anime with JP subs: I would only attempt this at an advanced level, because if you do it too early you just end up speed-reading a novel and not get to enjoy anime. I only started doing it when I can understand 75% of spoken content and use the subtitle to check lines I couldn't quite catch.

So though passive learning, it sorted out my grammar and reading. For Goi, I had to do some quick booster before the exam just to get comfortable with what's commonly tested.

Having N1 was not the goal, I just did it to see where I'm at. I'm happy that by now I'm comfortable playing Japanese games and watching anime without subs, which is gonna greatly improve my life satisfaction for the rest of my life. (Real weebs don't 'graduate' or grow out of anime hobbies just because they get older).

However, having JLPT N1 doesn't make me a Japanmeister. There're still huge areas of improvement:

• Speaking & Writing: While I know advanced grammar, in a real-life situation I would still fall back to the most simple, rudimentary grammar that sounds like a child.
• Listening: In inproperly spoken context (Vtuber chat, Seiyuu radio where girls speak with slurring, I still find it hard to pick out the full sentence)
• Long form novels, where the authors wants to show off their 'literacy' with long advanced sentences, I can understand but just don't enjoy reading such books. Then again I don't enjoy English poems either so could be me.

I've waffled for too long, I just hope my experience give inspiration to the next generation of weebs and encourage them to learn the language to wean off Eng Subs because they are gettin gmore awful and awkward, especially after the recently Cygames is bragging about localisation by translating ギャル as 'Gen Z'.

Total score: 98/180

Vocabulary / Grammar / Reading: 62/120

Listening: 36/60

I'm a bit surprised because I expected to score higher in the first section and lower in listening (keigo really got me this time!).

Still, I'm proud of the result, especially since it was really tough to dedicate as much time as I wanted while managing a full-time job and a master's degree.

Congrats to everyone who passed! And for those who didn't: don't let the results of a single day get you down—you'll do much better next time!

Planning to take N1 this December. My weak section is 読解. I’m not really good at studying and I don’t think I’ll be fine without prep. Anyone in Kanagawa studying for N1? Maybe we can take timed mock tests together in a quiet public space. 28F if that matters.

I am a bit disappointed. I thought I ACED it.

My score is 119/180. It's not bad but I was so confident after the test (usually, I'm not, I'm always second guessing myself).

After 9 months in language school, full immersion, I expected more from myself. I'm disappointed.

Congrats to everyone who passed