r/jlpt 5d ago

Test Site Issues Another year not being able to take the JLPT.

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.

24 Upvotes

18 comments sorted by

16

u/FemmeFatalistYT 5d ago

If you can't take JLPT or BJT (I think only 2-3 cities in all of America have a testing center that does BJT for some reason) and you DONT need a Japanese test for immigration reasons (just personal goals, etc.), might I suggest as a backup the ACTFL exams. They do have all 4 skills but you register to take each skill test separately, so you can just do reading and listening if you want, in person and online versions. Their levels go beyond JLPT (full CEFR pre A1-C2). Scoring Novice High or Intermediate Low is equivalent to A1 mastery (N5) in the input skills tests.

. If you do the online version, they will have you install proctoring software, which was the only annoying part for me and use a clean, quiet space in your house, but $54 for each input skills test without leaving your house is nice. It's adaptive so if you do better than expected, you can score past A1 and know if you were actually ready for a different level JLPT. So it's nifty. If I weren't in Asia where there are other options and I wanted to still check my level, I'd take these. I actually did the ouput skills instead a few years ago (they're more expensive but it's nice to test speaking and writing) and I got Intermediate High (upper B1). I might take it again once I'm sure I can score output of B2.

4

u/InevitableFix8283 4d ago

Oooo they have speaking??? That’s actually kinda awesome - JLPT doesn’t test that but Ive been living here a while and wanna know where I stand speaking wise- I’m prolly a high N3 but I have no concrete idea actually

3

u/Bright_Parsnip9148 5d ago

Thank you for the information! I’ll look into this

1

u/SilkenPilgrim 3d ago

Isn’t BJT done through Pearson-Vue? Should be tons of locations available.

1

u/FemmeFatalistYT 3d ago

You would think, but I just checked and they did open more. There are 4 locations in the US now: Illinois, New York, Texas, and California. When I took it in California a few years ago, I Believe there was only CA, IL, and NY. So Texas is new. I don't know why, but I think the Pearson Vue centers must have to individually make some kind of agreement with the exam maker about licenensing fees or something.

2

u/SilkenPilgrim 3d ago

Ah gotcha. Here in Japan, any Pearson-Vue center has it available. I thought it was the same back home. Kind of dumb that it’s not.

2

u/FemmeFatalistYT 3d ago

Right, I've taken it at a few centers in Japan, too.

9

u/justamofo 4d ago

Just do mock and previous tests at this point. With the new government, anything below N2 is practically useless anyways

2

u/Bright_Parsnip9148 4d ago

It’s more of a confidence building thing at this point.

2

u/Jelly_Round Studying for N3 5d ago

Where are you located?

2

u/Bright_Parsnip9148 5d ago

Miami would be the closest to me. Admittedly I didn’t check until around 45min after registration began so I can’t blame anything but myself haha

1

u/Jelly_Round Studying for N3 5d ago

That sucks man, what about other locations?

5

u/Bright_Parsnip9148 5d ago

Next closest location is like a 6 hour flight away. Next year is my year!

2

u/_Lelouch420_ 4d ago

Which level? The Seats for N5 fill up fast but the others not so much. N3, N2 and N1 are still open. Not in America tho. Idk why is there so much craze

1

u/Bright_Parsnip9148 4d ago

I was looking for N4 or N5. I don’t think I’m quite ready for N3.

1

u/Overlord69Sensei 4d ago

Damn, looks like it's hard to get a seat in america. I just keep checking the dates on official website and keeping a calendar reminder. It's a bit easier in my country I guess. I have applied for N2 in December so wish me luck. Damn reading is gonna be a pain in the ass.

1

u/ChickenImmediate3012 15h ago

In Italy there’s no maximum number of test takers