Never taken the JLPT. However, currently studying the Japanese bachelor program at university. Wonder if it's better for me to take the JLPT-test after I finished my program...
For all levels the listening section is played only once I believe. I took the N4 test after 3 months of starting Japanese last week and felt the listening section was the easiest but mostly cause I've watched a ton of anime. I had mostly struggled with my limited vocabulary so section 1 was hard
I've taken the JLPT N4 (and failed by 5 points), and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I thought it would be much more challenging because I heard about all these scary experiences and whatnot. Vocabulary was easy, and Kanji was easy, but listening and Grammar is what I struggled with the most. Though I failed by 5 points, I got a basic understanding of how the JLPT is structured. So next year, I'm aiming for N3!
Anyone that says that the N1 has things that only matter to the JLPT test and aren't used in "real life" is probably someone who doesn't read much Japanese at all. All of those supposedly obscure grammar points and vocab show up very frequently in any sort of written media, because you need variety in the way you express things. Also, I feel like I encountered those grammar points/vocab much more in media meant for adults like proper novels and non-fiction books, so it's not even a case of chuuni light novel writer writes in a less common way just to sound cool, they're just a constituent part of the language that you'll have to learn.
I lived in Japan 11 years, I had N2 and I have failed N1 twice. Still I’m a translator and japanese people rate my japanese as some of the best amongst the foreign community. I guess that you can live real life in japan as a good speaker and even work amongst japanese people without N1… but I admit I never got in to reading novels. I’ll often read articles and internal emails and I read the news on occasion but that’s probably why I haven’t been able to pass. I’m just starting to get in to reading novels anyway! Wish me luck!
The big thing is that the test and the test material is quite different for the grammar part As one of my Japanese teacher said, for n1 grammar part it's better to study mainly n2 material Vocabulary is indeed something that's acquired by multiplying readings though, completely agree on that :)
@@Rebecca-bz6ph it's the same with the eiken english tests. If you go look at it, the highest level is mostly university-level vocabulary which even some native english speakers don't know. You definitely don't need to know that stuff just for living life, but it is definitely used in more educated contexts.
I am not native English speaker. And I was studying specifically for SAT. It was tiring and I burned out. And failed SAT. I hated English. Then I kinda quit it, but I was listening to RUclips as a background and reading fanfics (I couldn’t wait until they’ll translate it). So after couple month I passed IELTS I didn’t any studying. Reading and Listening 7.5. Writing and Speaking I did not practiced even passively so they were 6-6.5. So my advice is to have fun. Now English is almost my dominant language 😊
Congratulations on passing that! And yes, for languages, if you can find ways to have fun with them you can learn SO MUCH more than by just studying. =) I agree!
Isn't IELTS made for foreign learners of English? SAT is made to be challenging for the natives, so the English section contains a lot of obscure words, expressions and grammar. It basically requires specifically grinding example/practice tests for an average american student to pass it with good grades (1520+). My Azerbaijani friend got 1530 after around 2 months of training for it, but he is halfway through between C1 and C2 (inputwise at least). So one has to train for the SAT specifically for quite some time on top of being able to get closer to 8.5-9 on IELTS for listening and reading. Especially considering how ridiculous questions for the native language exams can be. I personally was unable to get perfect score on my Russian exam for the test part. So don't think too much about it, a year or two of actively seeking for an advanced language material at your own pace most likely will get you there.
@@NewbieFirst I disagree, maybe they made the SAT easier in recent years, but I found it to be fairly easy (I can see how a non native might find it challenging though). For reference, I took it in 2019.
Pretty similar to me. I had to take English proficiency test a couple years ago so I bought books, got cds and did a mock test like what I thought I should do. Then I realized, why read something I don’t enjoy when I spend hours reading English web novels and watching English speaking youtuber every days already. When the score came out my family was pretty surprised because they thought I was just lying around unprepared until the test lol
I did the N2 last week, first time I've taken a JLPT; I found that the reading sections were pretty demanding, in that a lot of the questions did ask you to consider the whole text and not just certain parts, so you couldn't just skim or scan for the relevant section and yeah like you mention, the texts are pretty chunky and there are quite a lot of them Listening was diabolical though, so many times they try and misdirect you from the right answer by referencing other potential answers in the listening passage, and we only got to listen once unless someone claimed they couldn't hear the passage, which they allowed a few times tbf, but they still speak so fast. Some bits were easier than others, but pretty much every candidate I spoke to thought that the listening was the worst bit
Yeah idk why but I practiced with a lot of old N2 exams and they were all fine but the N2 JLPT this winter seemed a lot harder than the older ones. Many of my friends also said that they had a really hard time on that exam compared to older ones. Listening had always been fine for me but it definitely caught me off guard this time 😅
Exactly, the JLPT is a comprehension test that measures input ability, and it is a pretty good barometer for real input ability. As you said, if you read a lot, it's fine even without specific study. Most of the people who complain about it just don't read. The real problems with the JLPT are that it's only twice per year, you have to wait 2 months for the results and it's often poorly conducted. For example, it's not fair when you miss answers in listening because someone else has their phone go off, or people are arguing in the hallway, or the CD stops, but things like that often happen.
@@319hiroyuki Yeah that person will get escorted out but everyone else still gets screwed over by that persons phone going off because they miss hearing some of the question due to the noise.
Great video to dispel any misconceptions surrounding examination as well sharing what you did to study in an honest and realistic manner. It helps tremendously. That confidence is well-deserved.
For the listening test, it reminded me of the English test I had to pass before moving to France, as I was told it would be really useful to prove I could speak decent English, as many people here don't really. So... I pretty much got 100% on every part except... The listening had three parts: formal speech, casual (slang) speech, and a long speech with regular English. The long speech talked for a straight two minutes without stopping. It was about Miss Watson having a bunch of problems throughout her day. Q1: At what time did Miss Watson went to the hairdresser? ... Like that appointment she changed over 5 times in that 2mins ? I don't know... I can't even recall my class scedule altough it's been the same for the last 5 month and you ask me to remember something like this? I got 60% on that one... Having it in my native language wouldn't have helped at all.
That's stupid because irl if you get that convo, you'd ask the key points you wanted to know again to confirm it. Also no one speaks like that, i wanted to know at what time you could go to the company, not "what i planned to do but something happened so that's why i thought i could go at this time but then i realized there's a long lost relative who will visit at that time so i changed it again to this time..."
Very interesting to hear that! I’ve been thinking about taking the N1 just for fun without any preparation! I passed the JLPT1級 like 15 years ago, before it was N1, and I’ve been living here since, so I thought it might be interesting to try! Cheers from Kobe!
I grew up in Australia, with Japanese parents. I did go to a Japanese supplementary school on Saturdays, but most of my knowledge was through talking to my parents, friends, and watching shows. In university, I decided to test myself out and try the N1. I fortunately passed, but not anywhere near 100%. There is a lot of kanji and vocab I just didn't come across as a kid, but that definitely doesn't mean N1 is useless. It covers much broader areas where Japanese is used. Whilst I did poorly on the reading section due to not knowing a lot of the kanji, I could get enough to pass. However, I did manage to get 100% on the listening part. They definitely pull back on obscure vocabulary for the listening section, and they do only use natural realistic conversations. I also teach beginner Japanese, so am thinking of taking some of the other levels in the future to see how they're like.
I took the JLPT N1 test the first time a very long time ago. I had majored in Japanese language at a US university, and had lived in Japan more than 10 years at that point, and I just walked in and took the test. And passed, but it was just barely. Then, working at a company, a colleague started saying to everyone that I had said I'd passed the N1, but it was so long ago, I must have forgotten it all, I couldn't really be at that level. So I walked in and took it again, and that time I remembered which sections I had questions on, which might have gone better... and passed with a very high score. I agree - the N1 is testing not the language-school class type Japanese, but the living-with-language competence type Japanese. Then I heard about the BJT - Business Japanese Proficiency Test. That test deals with workplace vocabulary (confirming deliveries, inter-department vs intra-department vocabulary usage, accounting and stockroom management, telephone honorific competence, that sort of thing.) Instead of trying to guess your level, everyone takes the same test, and the score is from 0 to 800, with 800 being native speaker. Again, this is specific to specific situations and vocabulary, and if you're not in business settings, you won't do well, but it's not obscure or irrelevant. Because it is open-ended like that, it can come across as brutal. But based on the grade you get, a company can hire you with the confidence that you can do 'regular Japanese employee work', and if you're at the level, answer the phone or visit customers. The BJT is run by the Nihon Kanji Noryoku Kentei Kyokai (日本漢字漢字能力検定協会) the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, or Kanken (漢検) for short. It's test that native Japanese elementary~high school students and others take, and it may have changed, but when I looked at it, it was FULL of obscure, irrelevant trivia questions about kanji. So such obscure, irrelevant trivia tests exist, but they aren't the JLPT or the BJT for foreigners.
I took the N5 here in Rome, Italy. There were a looot of people (but it must be said that here in Italy the JLPT can be taken only in December, no July, and only here in Rome and in Venice, which is a harder to reach city than Rome). As you guessed, there were much more people taking the N5/N4 than the higher levels. The hardest part for me was the reading, because of my speed, and the listening.
Thank you for telling me about that! It's interesting to hear how it's done around the world. I'm surprised they only do it once per year if so many people want to take it! But still, better than 0 I suppose! Hoping you can get the score you want on the N5! =)
c'ero anch'io! i was taking the N5 in the same room. it was a good checkpoint for me. just knowing that i had paid for the exam, and the train, and the hotel room, and having a deadline, made me actually start studying! i want to take n4 next year, and that will force me to study more grammar and vocab!
I did the N3 in Venice, seats are quite scarce and a lot of languaghe students are taking them as it count for university credit, there were a lot more people attending lower levels but it is expected I suppose. I have to disagree that Venice is hard to reach, there is the train reaching the city and from the station the test facility is only about 15 minute walk and very accessible. Also technically Milan has a facility but for "reasons" was not able to organize the test so also take that in mind
I think a lot of the "N1 has random stuff on it" comes from the fact that most people taking it are coming from a primarily academic background so more nuanced day to day phrases/grammar points aren't things they're regularly exposed to. Any kind of immersion experience you can get goes a loooong way towards breaking through that.
It's kinda funny, because I feel a lot of those points in N1 seem to be even easier if you have experience with academic Japanese (at least from my own experience). Not saying they aren't in every day Japanese as well, but at least in terms of how the reading structure is, it feels similar than in academic writing (but much easier and understandable for people who don't know much about the topic). Also part of the listening is something you would hear at a Japanese university often and part of the reading in e-mails you might write to some of your professors at university in Japan (including the keigo of course). Unless your comment only covers academic background in the country the people who take the test come from. Then I would agree more with it. Hope you have nice holidays (if you celebrate any of them)!
I agree. Before I passed N2 on last December I had already started to read light novels on my own. (Though my Sensei does not suggest that I do that because there are some informal grammars or words.) Still, I suggest that people who are near the N2 level read novels that fit their level. It is extremely rewarding because you actually read in Japanese. Grammars like ざるを得ない are quite useful because they do use in novel. By truly enjoy reading these novel it increased my reading speed and help me to finished my N2 Reading & Grammar section like 20 minutes early.
do you have any recommended light novel for the N2 equivalent level? been meaning to start reading japanese books before fully commit on the bigger books.
10 years speaking Japanese, only once I used zaru wo enai irl, and it’s not even necessary since I actually could use nai to ikenai with the same nuance
@@tsukuneboy I don't think I've heard anyone say "ざるを得ない" IRL either but I've seen it a lot in manga, novels, articles, etc...So I guess it's mostly a formal literary expression rather than a casual one. Most expressions I've learnt for N2 could also be reformulated in easier words but were still ones I've met many times when reading.
@@sintech I read 無職転生 volume 25 last year 26 right now. I tried reading Re Zero, but it was too hard for me. I also read 青春ブタ volume 1. I think the difficulty for me is 無職転生
I just took the N4 in Tokyo. More people were taking N5 than N4! For the listening part, they only played the audio once, but asked the question twice. They’d do the introduction, ask the question, then give the information, and then ask the question again. I didn’t study for it cuz I was busy. I definitely failed the vocabulary part. 😂 but I nailed the listening.
Super interesting. I’m enjoying reading manga and playing games in Japanese but no plans to take any tests 😅 Looking forward to hearing about your result
Me too, l'm not really all that interested in taking a test. I'm only learning Japanese to be able to read books, websites, and people's social media comments in Japanese.
I was shocked when you mentioned on the JLPT N3 they allowed you twice to listen. I took the JLPT N5 earlier this year and we only got to listen once. They didn't even pause for a second, they just continued to let the CD player keep going. It was so difficult, I really wish for the lower levels they would allow two times of listening.
Someone else mentioned that they did the same for N4 this year! I don't know if maybe they changed it since I took N3 many years ago, or if my memory has betrayed me!
I took the N4 and they did not, so maybe it is up to instructor digression. Seems like a grey area though, considering some had 2x listening and some did not.
After studying 日本語 for almost 4 months, I took a practice N5 and ironically found that reading and 漢字 was the easy part, but I only got *2* right on the listening section.
That's something I noticed, and don't feel bad about it, since if you haven't had a chance to listen to the language a lot it can be hard to pick up on words you already know. That's what I did at the start, so I was fine with reading and kanji since I focused on that a lot, but didn't have much in terms of listening comprehension. Like with anything, just keep going for it and eventually things do start to clear up a bit.
This is why i'm holding off taking the test. I've mostly studied by reading and writing, and I feel confident in that regard. But I find it much more difficult to listen to a show or people speak. I actually find it easier to read japanese subtitles while listening to japanese shows than it is to just listen.
The listening part was BRUTAL. It's likely going to be the reason why I failed my N3 (well, I feel like I failed it). The reading was super demanding too. Lots to read with limited time, I had to just give up on a couple questions in order to focus efforts into answer all questions / answering questions I did understand. I took it outside of Japan and there were a TON of N1 and N2, and hardly any people in my N3 section.. Edit : I should add that I played from like 0% to 85% of Sister Princess for PS1 and started an N3 focus vocab deck for a smidge over a month before the test, every single day. I finished a manga I had started reading earlier in the year too. All these 3 things helped me a lot for the vocab and grammar parts.
Can confirm that for N2 reading speed was everything. The listening section was easy and felt like not really N2 material (if you watch anime everyday at least) but hell those 30+ pages of reading were almost impossible if you didn't train for speed and as you mentioned you can't really skim through as the questions need the whole text and their meaning to be understood.
If you want to train for reading speed, get movies, etc. in a language you don't know but a version with Japanese subtitles. Because you can't understand the original language, you'll be relying on the Japanese subtitles... which zip through SO fast! The easiest subtitle reading speed is the NHK Hearing-handicapped nightly news, Education channel around.. 6:45 pm? for 15 minutes, every night.
Great video, Andy! (Brian here.) Your experiences line up with mine. I took the N1 in 2019 -- my first standardized Japanese test in decades -- and like you, I found the selections from the reading section to be interesting and realistic. Some were fairly easy, and some required that you really focus, but I agree that skimming is probably not the best strategy because, as you say, many questions want you to summarize what the author is really getting it, and that sometimes comes down to a single, crucial sentence that you could miss if you were just skimming. (Honestly, that is my advice for reading in general.) The listening section was challenging for me too, for exactly the reason you mention! After over an hour of pedal-to-the-metal focus in the the earlier sections, I zoned out a couple times right during a crucial moment in the longer dialogs. "And the killer is..." -- (Wait, did I leave the the lights on at home) -- "Question: Who was the killer?" (No!!!!)
One other thing about the listening section is that you can forget which answer was the right one. It's like when you're on the phone and they say, "Press 1 for Sales, press 2 for Support..." and you listen all the way until the end and then go, "Wait, was Support 1 or 2?" But there's no way to go back! So what I recommend is that when the listening section starts, you quickly draw a bunch of squares marked with A, B, C, and D (or some shorthand version of that). As you're listening, you can say to yourself, "Nope, A is definitely wrong" or "B sounds right" and cross out or circle them as you go. I found that helped me to eliminate simple forgetfulness/brain fog as a factor. You're allowed to take notes on your booklet (not answer sheet) so that isn't a problem.
"Reading a lot and having fun" is definitely the best way to learn. The main grind in Japanese is getting good enough to start immersing. Breeding books all day and doing flash cards is effective but doesn't help outside of its bubble so much
15:15 I think you make a really good point here. However, I think that flashcards/test prep booklets can still be helpful. I think the problem (what most end up doing) is that waiting until signing up to start prepping for the test, which only gives a max of 6 months to study, is a surefire way to get burnt out. I plan on taking the test at some point, but I'm not going to specifically grind it out to get there. The best approach for studying anything, whether it's a language or a subject for school, is to go about it at a sustainable pace. Using the N1 as an example, the jump in words needed from N2 is like 4,000-ish additional, so grinding those out in 6 months would definitely be dreadful. The better approach IMO would be to start from further out than the registration date, like maybe a year from the actual test date or so, which would then only require like 11 cards a day (sentence cards specifically) to reach that goal. At that point it becomes small, bite size chunks of flashcard sessions as opposed to spending who knows how long drilling cards every day. This would be super unintrusive and then give plenty of time for doing reading, maybe some practice test books, or whatever kind of fun supplementary study one could wish for. It's mostly about just finding a good balance.
I picked up Yotsuba recently and found an Anki deck from a reading club and have been going through that. I am pretty much a beginner but it's been tons of fun.
@@ToKiniAndy Exactly! It's been SUPER hard because I've hardly got my Hiragana memorized at this point but I really love and am passionate about anime and manga so it's making the process of getting started worth it. Even if for me it's just a page or two when I sit down. But my end goal is to read a book that wasn't translated in a series I really loved as a younger adult. I must know how the story ends!!! Have a tangible goal and making it fun is the best way to keep at it. Also thanks to yours and others great educational content. Super grateful for that. Arigatou!
I took the N2 in Kanagawa back in July. To a certain degree, it felt as if I was being tested on my ability to take tests (although my language ability was important as well). As was mentioned in the video, for the listening section if you zone out at all (which is hard not to do given how dry the conversations are) you are going to miss something. Combined with the deliberate attempts to confuse the listener (which imo were unnatural and/or could be very easily resolved in real life) the listening part was slightly tricky although not that bad from a purely linguistic point of view. The reading section felt like a time management obstacle more than anything. Perhaps not to the extent that you mentioned about the N1 in the video but at the N2 level, many of the passages had to do with "reading between the lines" in a way that goes beyond just finding some concrete information in the text. This means that scanning and skimming techniques don't work as well and more time is needed to fully comprehend the text (i.e. I read the full text for many of the questions). Vocabulary and grammar were somewhat of a hit and miss. Sometimes there were words I didn't know or a kanji I forgot. All in all this wasn't a bad section. I agree that just reading more definitely helps. Or doing whatever it is you enjoy in Japanese is very helpful. That said, test booklets and the like are a good way to get an idea of how the test works, how to manage your time, and what areas you might need to focus on to improve. +1 to the only textbook study burnout though. Currently dealing with that as I contemplate going for my own N1.
I live in Japan and consider doing the N2 because it feels like what I use in everyday conversations so I won't need to study as much as for the N1. I figured that it can't hurt to have the certificate.
I took N3 last december. We didn't have any of the listening sections repeated for us. I zoned out a few times, and yeah, you COMPLETELY miss whats being said. Happy to report that I passed though
The last time i see Jlpt N1 is literally when it says that u are already an expert in Japanese and understand advanced conversation like taking a breath
Interestingly, I'm kind of the opposite. I'm more comfortable reading/writing than speaking/listening because I'm not studying in a college environment, so it's just me, the computer, and the notepad. Hard to practice conversation that way haha. I'm still a beginner, but I won't give up, your content has been extremely helpful, as well as wanikani and satori reader.
I took my first N3 this December. First JLPT ever also. I'm (nearly) a beginner 7 months ago (I know the Hiragana and Katakana and a bit grammar, maybe around N5 level), then I found out about the immersion method. I spent 7 months watching anime with Japanese subtitle and learn from it. Beside that, maybe nothing at all, no books, no drills. I purposely chose to not study like you just to test how far can very-unrealistic-but-easy-to-understand anime series I've watched got me. Surprisingly it helps A LOT. I read very fast through the reading parts, it's very easy to understand even though i don't know much grammar, I identified kanji very fast too. I'm surprised as people (at least in my area) usually have to study for 2 years in school (with a teachers) in order to reach N3 level. It's a success for me!
I took the n2 this year. I felt like the reading part was easier than I thought. I blew through the vocab words and once I got to the reading section I moved to the back and worked my way back up. Still listening was harder than I was expecting so I'm not so sure how I did. They didn't give you a second chance and the N2 as well. You only had one chance to figure it out. I haven't been setting too much but what I have been doing is playing the kanken premium has a DS game by I.E. institute. I learned about five kanji a day then I do the little quiz that they have for reading and writing and that's about it no more than 30 minutes a day. I really believe that has helped my kanji and vocab ability. I plan to listen to more podcasts strictly in Japanese and play more games to get prepared for the N1 next year!
I took the N1 in Switzerland! My background: 7 years on and off self-studying with textbooks, youtube, lil bit of reading, talking to Japanese ppl when i'd get the chance (barely). Kanji/vocab is usually my strength (in N3 and N2), but on this test I've come across a few kanjis and words I've never seen before... Though I have to admit I mainly studied with text books like Soumatome and Kanzen Master. (a little bit more media input wouldn't have hurt ig.) Unfortunately I haven't found the right media source (news, youtuber, ...) that could motivate me to immerse daily into Japanese, + it's pretty much impossible to get Japanese books that would interest me in my country. Then, the reading section is always the same to me. Way too little time. Then I'd say for the next JLPT I'll read more and then... here we go again lol. The listening section was extremely hard for me on N3 and N2, but on N1 it was the easiest part for some reason. To me it felt like the listening didn't get harder, it's just N1 vocab they would use, + if you take notes on the listening part it can be of great help.
I took the N4 and when I saw the list there were like 2k people taking the N4 compared to the others where it was only around 300-500. It was my first time taking the JLPT and I honestly only seriously prepared for the test for a month. As in I didn't know what vocabs nor kanji were under N4, so I did a vocabulary and kanji speed run, it was so intense. I really studied as much as I can in one month. Test day came and honestly, I was really... surprised? because it wasn't really that hard??? Maybe I'm being too confident about this haha but I'm about 90% sure I passed. Hoping to take the N2 next year!! Thanks fir the video!
@Nada i already knew a bit of japanese but the stuff I know are all spread out through all the N levels. Like some words I know are for N3-1 (according to my jisho). So I kinda wanted to assess what my level could be now. I didn't think it would be as high as N3 so I went with N4 for now. What I meant here is that I solely focused on studying things you'll learn on N4, or mostly taught on N4. And what would appear on an N4 exam. Since I knew some vocabs/grammar/kanji already, I just speedran the things I didnt know. Im sorry I hope I explained it properly 😅
I took the n5 in DC. There were 2 rooms for each level but I dont know how full they were. I'm not sure I passed and if I did, I know I could have done better. I'm gonna try way harder and go for n4 next year but I'm still proud of myself for doing it 😤
Totally agree with you. Maybe 15 years ago I had to the TOEFL (or something similar so you can get into Uni in the UK), and I never studied for the exam and passed with no problem at all. This happened for the same reasons you mention on this video. Just enjoy the language, and immerse as much as possible. Eventually taking these exams aren’t so daunting anymore! Keep up the great content Andy! Hope to see a video soon regarding tips and tricks to develop your listening comprehension (besides immersing a lot 😁). Keep up the great content!
That is definitely something I've always wanted to do a short video on. I definitely have some ideas for what can help with listening comprehension. =) Thank you!
TOEFL is quite similar to the JLPT, though I would say the speaking parts are less boring than the TOEIC or the JLPT (but it's not like I took them so many times, it could be sampling bias). The reading is probably closer to N2 rather than N1 in difficulty and length but still quite a few tricky questions there.
I took the N2 in Sendai and we were around 600 people that was quite intimidating. There was also N1 at my location, but only ~100 I think. No N5/N4/N3, maybe they were elsewhere in the city. As for the test itself, I didn't study for it and I definitely had a lack of knowledge in kanji and grammar. I really enjoyed the reading part like you! Interesting texts, but sometimes hard questions..... I don't think I passed it, but going into it I thought of it as a training, and I will definitely pass it next time in July!!
I took the N5 test last week. There were 40 people in my exam room and there were 10+ exam rooms in the uni I took the test (from N5-N1, in HCMC). I was kind of surprise, because I didn't think that there were so many people. And that was just one of the exam locations in Vietnam.
I have heard these stories many times. That you'll pass if you are lucky and the topics are something of your field and so on. So I studied a little bit and took the N1 two weeks ago, even though I barely managed to pass N2 18 months ago... I won't pass but I was not "lost" in the exam. Even though some Japanese people might not fully know all the words or understand fully all the sentences, nothing was that obscure. To be honest, some grammar points and vocabulary that came up, I learned them just by playing Pokémon in Japanese...
Did you pass? I'll be taking the N1 in December, and I barely passed the N2 last year... Even if I fail this time, I think that my study routine now will help me pass with a decent? score eventually.
Thank you so much for pointing the ざるを得ない grammar point. Contrary to you though, I had studied that grammar estructure last year and for some reason I thought it was such an useful expression I got it engraved on my brain and as soon as I saw it I was like "there it is! I know what you are". I gave the N1 in Chile this year and coincidentally was an assistant for the JLPT N1 last year and the number of people definitely lowered in comparison. Last year it was like 13-14 people, I reckon. However, this year we were only 8 enrolled and 6 attended. This was my first year taking the N1 (took the N3 for the first time in my third year studying Japanese and approved it the same year) and I totally skipped N2. I have to say it was challenging more so since I didn't study that much. I had a Japanese tutor weekly, but it wasn't as intensive as some weeks I had to cancel due to work. Let's see the results.
the reason for so many participants might be covid restictions and therefore - JLPT cancelations. my friends couldn't go to JLPT because it was cancelled 5 times already! i was ultra lucky to have passed JLPT N3 in winter 2019, right before covid. at that time i was so slow in reading - that i decided to not waste my time and guess every answer in the reading section - and it worked out! lucky me ;D other sections were pretty easy, even though i have been studying japanese for only 1.5 years in university. my teacher was very nonchalant about it - she said, when she went to JLPT N3 with her friends - they treated it like a fun little hanging out activity, so i shouldn't be nervous at all - and she was correct! _ thanks for the video, time to level up my reading comprehension skills i guess)
I took N2 for the first time. I studied every day for hours and months. Drove hours to the test site. After all that I didn’t even get to finish the test😣 they made us leave the room after the first half for the break & since my mind was wandering over the questions I misheard the return time. I came back 5 minutes late & they wouldn’t even let me come in to do the listening 😭😭😭 i cried so hard the whole way home. felt awful & stupid wasted so much time & money. I felt pretty confident abt the first part but the content was SOOO different from my JLPT textbooks and I’ve seen many ppl agree
In Poland, I would say the upper limit of examinees varies; last week's exam seems to have had an upper limit of 500, while the summer one, which I took, I could have sworn had an upper limit of 800. Maybe that's because of the season. Also, this is scary: I couldn't help but check my result and it seems I got just a few more points than you! How?! I'm (always) behind on my kanji practice! :'D
Also, thanks so much for your assistance been Japanese for a year now and I wish I'd known about you in the beginning (pretty sure a lot of people are saying the same). #bestteacherever💯
I’ve passed 1-kyu and N1 a total of 5 times, one time with a perfect score, and the other times with scores >90%. Of course I failed the test once before the first time I passed it. I think that N1 is easier than the old 1-kyu version of the test because they ask questions like “what matches what the author most wants to say” rather than “which of these two sentences (written in hiragana) use the same kanji to write the word? The time I got a perfect score, I did what you did - just took the test without studying for it (although I had studied for it previously). Actually that was the first time I took the N1 format. I would say that I have learned more Japanese AFTER passing N1 than I did in order to pass N1 (or 1-kyu). The expressions are not used every day in casual conversations, but I think just about any Japanese university student could get a near-perfect score. On the other hand, just because you get a good score on N1 doesn’t mean you know everything in Japanese. Just try picking up a newspaper, magazine or textbook and you’ll find that it is filled with words that are beyond the scope of N1. I think N1 is really the starting point for reading authentic materials, especially academic texts. There are so many good resources for learning Japanese and studying for the JLPT. Actually I decided to study for the JLPT because as a self-learner I wanted something to help me answer the question “what should I study next?” Of course not all foreigners in Japan - especially westerners - have N1. But if you plan to be in Japan for several years and you’re not an expat whose coworkers are expected to speak to you in your own language, I think achieving N1-level is going to make your life in Japan so much more convenient and fulfilling. After you get that level, and if you have good kanji skills, you’ll be able to keep improving your Japanese by consuming authentic Japanese media after you have N1. Also knowing the meaning of kanji (in English for me) will make it pretty easy to guess the meaning of kanji compounds in context. Not all compounds are obvious if you know the individual kanji, but many are. BTW - regarding your point about reading speed - the time when I didn’t get a perfect score on N1 was when I ran out of time on the reading section (I only got the questions on the last passage wrong). The listening part is “famous” for having conversations with very convoluted and unnatural twists and turns. It’s almost a test of concentration rather than a test of Japanese listening skills. In my experience, textbooks and vocabulary lists are helpful for “beginners” (here I’m including everything up until N1) to get coverage of all the basics. After that the vocabulary and type of Japanese expressions that are most relevant for you will be different depending on your situation and interests. If you work in a Japanese hotel, obviously keigo and expressions about travel, etc. will be important, but if you just enjoy isekai manga, a lot more fantasy-themed Japanese will be important for you. The last thing I would re-iterate is that knowing individual kanji really well will help a lot in acquiring kanji-compound vocabulary. Without a solid knowledge of kanji, I think it would be impossible to attain N1-level Japanese.
I took Japanese language class in college coz I can earn credits while learning the language at the same time which was fun (and it pulled my grade up). Took it for 6 semesters (3 years), then signed up for N1. I skipped N5 - N2 coz the exam wasn't exactly cheap (not too pricey either but hey, I was a poor student). I can't remember the tests, but I did remember I guessed the answers for quite a lot of questions, especially reading if I'm not mistaken. The passing mark was 100. I got 104 😂 A pass is a pass.
3 months ago I only saw the thumbnail of this video and thought: ok, seems I don't have to go for N1 ever, since it's about useless grammar, etc.. Today I brought myself to watch the video and was a bit surprised 😅
Great video, Andy. Excited to see how you did on it. I wish the JLPT was closer to me so I could take it. I would have to make a full trip out of it being 6+ hours away. Maybe once I get N3-N2 level I will take the trip 🤣
Thanks Mully! Yeah, a 6 hour trip to take a test would definitely feel like overkill! When you get to that level maybe! Or maybe some day you can take it over here! =)
I took the JLPT N5 and 4 here in Brazil. My sensei advised me into starting doing the easiest (N5) and moving on to the more difficult ones (N4, 3, 2 and 1) depending on my level. Really, the majority of the people usually do the N5 and N4. I remeber once asking my sensei if there was anyone who would took the N1, and she said it's been years anyone did this test.
A couple questions: 1. What milestones should one hit before jumping into video games and mangas and stuff? For example finish japanese duolingo, complete certain anki decks, etc? 2. What games do you recommend. Some of your clips looked pretty cool.
I took N5 in Johor, Malaysia. It was the morning session along with N2. N5 ofc have more people than N2. For me actually I'm not sure if I'll pass or not cuz idk every word but it's def an experience for me being a 30 years old in the midst of 20 years old students. They even bring the minna no nihongo book to study in between. As for me, i just look at them study and try to catch some highlights. Was also trying to calm their nerves. Believe me kids, you don't wanna be nervous before or during the test.
This was really interesting to hear your experience! I took the N4 back in 2018. They played the listening questions twice and I remember there was a math question which I was not expecting. Ultimately, the listening section was what dragged my scores down.
A MATH question?! That's mean of them! haha I'm super curious now if they changed the listening sections to just one play through recently, because others are saying that N5 and N4 were both a single listen this year! Thank you for watching! =)
@@ToKiniAndyThe N3 test also had a single listening, I think that’s just how they do it now. I wished it was two. That would make the test MUCH easier.
I passed JLPT in 1997. Studied really hard for it for a year off the back of a degree in Japanese at university. Was elated when i passed. However whwn i look at the content now it looks easy and I would expect to get over 95% without any study if I were to do it now. That said, I think my Japanese could be way better. The more you know, the more you realize you dont know.
I haven't taken the N1 yet, but I have gotten really high grades on the ACT reading comprehension test. For good comprehension in any language, read the entire passage quickly but deliberately, making mental notes of important people and events that happen in the passage. Then, read the question and quickly rescan for the details that the question wants to know. This method allows you to understand the general concepts and context of the passage and then quickly find the details that weren't immediately obviously important the first time reading. Many times though, you'll already be confident in an answer and won't even need to rescan the passage which saves time. Only skimming usually makes people have to scan over and over again and miss important details or cause confusion about the situation. It may feel like an easy shortcut to save time, but if you feel the need to do shortcuts then you probably lack the skills that you're being tested on. Even if you pass, you still cheated yourself of reaching your potential.
This was my first time taking the JLPT and I took the N2. Reflecting on it, I took too much time on the reading, so I had to guess on many questions on the last two sections of the grammar (the sentence-forming portion and the fill-in the blank). The listening portion was pretty easy on my opinion. Overall, Idk if I passed or not so I’m pretty nervous.
Praying you passed! I also struggled a lot on the Language Knowledge section because I wanted to save time for the Reading section. I rushed a lot of questions but I also just didn't know a lot of things. In the end my Listening score made up for the LK score (i had 23/60 for that so, phew, close one). Maybe it'll be the same for you!
@@yowo6105 I did better than I thought tbh. I got 43/60 in the language knowledge portion, 41/60 in the reading, and 53/60 in Listening so in total 137/180. I probably could of scored around 50+ in the language knowledge had I not took too much time in the reading but a pass is a pass.
Reading speed really is key I think. I took the N2 this month, the only studying I did was grammar for a month - not every week, mind you - but I think I passed. Yes, the vocabulary section was awful to me, but I did really well at listening and reading so as long as I get the sectional minimum required points I'll be ok. Why did I do good at listening? Because of anime and Vtubers. Why did I do good at reading? Because I have played several visual novels + read a bit of manga in Japanese and I'm used to reading. Of course, I didn't get the meaning of many words at the provided texts, but I was fast enough that I could re-read everything several times and get a grasp of what the conveyed tone and main point was. Because of visual novels and manga, I'm used to trying to understand whole sentences without knowing the specific words used. That helped a lot. It's so nice to hear you talk about this. Because I also thought the vocab for N1 was absurdly specific, I was considering stopping at N2. I don't feel like studying for an exam anymore, I just want to keep doing the things I like. But from your testimony it sounds like I'll be okay if I just keep reading a lot and looking up weird grammar and vocabulary along the way. So encouraging. I'm so glad I came across this video!
@@butterfly22432 Any manga is ok I think, they usually have hiragana. A short one I read is koe no katachi. Look back is even shorter. You can focus however on manga with daily life topics first, they should have easier vocab (Yuri yuri for instance? Slice of life ones) I remember playing actual games with not much dialogue like to love Ru. I recently started Another code and that should give breathers from reading, too. For VNs... It's better if they have voice over, like the gotoubun no hanayome games. The vocab in those ones is easy/moderate I would say. I also played steins gate but the vocab is more advanced with that one. However, even advanced vocab is ok if the story interests you so much that it gets you to keep going. For instance, I read yumeutsutsu (moderate-hard) and flowers (harder). I guess those are the ones that helped. Edit: some advice that people who are serious for N1 also give is to read other stuff, like news and cultural reports, so that you get a costumed to the more formal vocabulary and the way of putting things into words. If you find them boring, I think a good idea can be to look for news videos on RUclips that have subtitles, and then focus on the subtitles
As someone whom took (and passed) the JLPT 1kyu in 2008, AMEN. I did find the listening part easier than the 2kyu, though. With the 2kyu it was always junk like two dysfunctional people arguing over when the bus was coming and where it was going only to end with a weird tangents on pomegranates. The 1kyu was stuff like "Clean the balcony because I want to put some junk there" or "Pick up the dry cleaning on the way home" I also recently took the Eiken 1kyu (I am Japanese, after all) and passed that which I found to have similar problems to the JLPT at the top end. The JLPT doesn't have a spoken component to it, though.
I don't know anything about Japanese tests, but I know for a fact that when I took TOEFL to go to college in America, I basically did zero preparation for it and passed with flying colors because I was already fluent. SAT on the other hand, I did study for it to make sure I get as high a score as possible, and I learned that the English part of the test seems to use obscure words and grammar rules to weed out the fluent from the hyper fluent.
😂 I have been here a long time too, grandchildren here now. I took the test in December with out studying has well. I read mainly insect and farming books, so my vocabulary is only strong in those areas. I think I did okay in the first grammar section but the long reading section was a bit of a headache. I consider myself a good speaker but a couple of questions in the listening section threw me 😂. I used to spend my life in an all Japanese environment, but with fast internet access I guess podcasts and audiobooks have spoilt me. Oh, I got N2 way way back when it was known as 2 Kyu.
The N1 Reading section is quite lengthy indeed. For the average reader, it’s not possible to finish that much in such a short period of time. And it’s impractical too. At the workplace one has enough time to read stuff so having a time limit serves no real purpose. The total time for the first section should be at least 130 minutes, that would be fair. For now, I would recommend to try to pass the N1 by achieving the minimum scores needed to get over the line. Vocabulary-Grammar: 40/60 Reading: 25/60 Listening: 45/60 Would fetch 110/180 which is a decent passing score. The reading section has six questions- Questions 8,9,10,11,12,13. Take your time and attempt any four of them. That’s should help in getting the passing marks. N1 is mainly important for job applications and interviews as quite many companies set it as a requirement to be eligible. Show them the N1 Certificate first (and score report later or avoid showing). At the workplace, you can easily use translation and dictionary sites for the things you don’t know.
At the Ann Arbor, Michigan Location the most taken test was the N2 test. I believe this is because a threshold for most job applications in Japan seem to be N2 so makes sense.
Yeah, looking up something on Gaijinpot right now I got "日本語でのビジネスコミュニケーションスキル ※Speaking/Listening: 上級 （equal to or above N2), Reading/Writing: 中級 （equal to or above N4)" for an HR Support Job.
Well it's a test so there's always a way to prepare and speedrun, but it really does not reflect your true language proficiency, and that's the biggest issue with JLPT. I got almost full score on N1 years ago but still my Japanese could hardly be considered as good enough at that time. I would still argue that because you can still get the points for reading even if you don't fully understand all the contents (you only need to analyze the structure and pick up the keywords), and for listening part, focus on the tone, you would be surprised how many questions you can just guess the right answer. Many other tricks like that, and that is why we say it is not a good indicator...
This is why I think, unless you're trying to go for work / school / required certification, it's better to learn a language for your own uses, not to pass a test. N1 seems to be the catchall that bridges the gap between advanced learner and native knowledge. In English, sure, you might not use the word "cacophony" everyday, and most people would probably agree that it's okay not to learn the word as an English learner. But that doesn't mean it doesn't come up. It's just nowhere near necessary unless you're consuming native media, meant for native speakers. I'm at around the N2 level and my tutor just told me to start taking note of every word I come across now that I don't already know. At least that's my interpretation. If that's not the case, please correct me!
I had friends in Japan who said the N1 was completely useless but I always thought that was because they couldn’t pass it it the N2 even. This person actually spoke Japanese quite well. I couldn’t pass N1 either but I tried. People asked why I couldn’t pass and I said my vocabulary and kanji were ok but my overall Japanese ability just wasn’t there. I couldn’t process it fast enough. I thought the grammar and vocabulary were all useful though.
Part of the problem for people who "actually speak Japanese quite well" is that the test is grading to sort out people who are educated and can handle the level of formality used in writing and in formal situations, so people who are fluent in informal Japanese or haven't tuned into what kind of impression others gather from meeting them are at a disadvantage.
@@MNkno That’s probably true for some people but this guy worked in IT and had to support Japanese speaking customers in Japanese. He really spoke well. But he probably only really knew the grammar, vocabulary, kanji that he needed and the test goes a bit further. Even the N2 I guess.
just took the n2 exam earlier this month, while many of my friends complained about the reading section because there was not enough time or they thought the listening was hard, they were fine for me, but i have worries i might have failed the kanji and vocab section because i focused too much on grammar while preparing for the exam (i used the shinkazen master n2 grammar workbook) and didn’t focus on kanji enough :') and then the grammar turned out to be just a page and a half from the whole exam. if it turns out i didn’t pass it i’ll just focus on that next time
Started studying Japanese in 2016. I did N3 in 2018 July, N2 in 2019 July and N1 in 2020 Dec (July was cancelled due to covid). My N3 and N2 experience wasn’t that bad as I felt confident in passing but I felt that I had screwed up my N1 so bad that I didn’t think I would pass. Managed to scrape by with a 103/180.
I'll be trying the N4 here in July. I've lived in Japan for 2 years, but honestly feel like I don't know ANY Japanese. As sad as it is, because I moved here right as COVID locked everything down (couldn't go out) I got almost no real world practice. I studied kanji fairly hard for the first year hear, which helps me with reading a ton but still feel like I can't come close to holding a real conversation with someone.
Am at 9:40 and couldn't help but agree wholeheartedly. I did N2 this year (first time taking the JLPT, after studying for about 2 years), and I'm pretty sure I passed though I admit I too was so tired during the listening section I zoned out midway and I had to guess 3 questions. I understand the strategy somewhat of looking for the word in the passage and then reading the lines next to it to get the answer. BUT I never really do that myself. Because for N2 at least there is so much nuance in these passages that it can be very easy to miss out on them, especially on questions that ask 'What is the author's stance on...'. (Plus, I do love reading the passages. I would really love to be able to write Japanese at that level one day.) Overall, JLPT was an interesting experience. I mostly studied reading news, articles, books, manga, videos...Some of N2 practice books here and there but never really made them my focus. I am considering N1, but I'm not holding myself to it. To answer your question about whether there are less people taking N1 here (Singapore), I think I noticed a lot of people studying at least N3 and above. N2 was the most I'd think.
I think it might be interesting to compare it to the AP Japanese test I took earlier this year in my senior year of HS. There was actually a speaking/presentation section where they give us a topic and we have to present.
I totally agree with you! Thanks for dispelling this stupid myth. N1 just like other language proficiency tests aim for a formal, academic set of skills and knowledge, so ofc you're rarely going to encounter those things "in the wild." This is also why language tests aren't for all learners. If you're never going to attempt to use a language in an academic or professional way, you won't have to take those exams anyways.
I took the N2 the other day as well. Oh my god, I just blanked during the reading portion. I had so much trouble focusing on it! It wasn't even that it was hard material. I just couldn't get myself to focus.
I took the JLPT (N4, I’m still a little language baby, don’t judge me) in Washington D.C., and they had a limit of 80 people per level, so all five tests had an equal number of takers.
Heyy, never seen your vids before but youtube thought I need to see your channel and this vid was really interesting. :) Just wanted to ask, how did you deal with the kanjis that you weren't familiar with in the medias you were reading/using? I also want to work on my Japanese as a hafu living abroad, but my biggest fear is still kanji as that is probably stuck around 小6 level for me and I just cant seem to get in to it as it seems so daunting.
Have you ever taken the JLPT? What was your experience like?
Never taken the JLPT. However, currently studying the Japanese bachelor program at university. Wonder if it's better for me to take the JLPT-test after I finished my program...
I think taking the test can be a great milestone. Something to aim for that keeps you on the grind! =)
For all levels the listening section is played only once I believe. I took the N4 test after 3 months of starting Japanese last week and felt the listening section was the easiest but mostly cause I've watched a ton of anime. I had mostly struggled with my limited vocabulary so section 1 was hard
I've taken the JLPT N4 (and failed by 5 points), and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I thought it would be much more challenging because I heard about all these scary experiences and whatnot. Vocabulary was easy, and Kanji was easy, but listening and Grammar is what I struggled with the most. Though I failed by 5 points, I got a basic understanding of how the JLPT is structured. So next year, I'm aiming for N3!
@poodles4058 That's what I'm hearing! I'm also hearing that a few years ago that was different. I wonder if/why they changed it!
Anyone that says that the N1 has things that only matter to the JLPT test and aren't used in "real life" is probably someone who doesn't read much Japanese at all. All of those supposedly obscure grammar points and vocab show up very frequently in any sort of written media, because you need variety in the way you express things. Also, I feel like I encountered those grammar points/vocab much more in media meant for adults like proper novels and non-fiction books, so it's not even a case of chuuni light novel writer writes in a less common way just to sound cool, they're just a constituent part of the language that you'll have to learn.
Yup. That's seems to be my experience as well. =)
Yep
I lived in Japan 11 years, I had N2 and I have failed N1 twice. Still I’m a translator and japanese people rate my japanese as some of the best amongst the foreign community. I guess that you can live real life in japan as a good speaker and even work amongst japanese people without N1… but I admit I never got in to reading novels. I’ll often read articles and internal emails and I read the news on occasion but that’s probably why I haven’t been able to pass. I’m just starting to get in to reading novels anyway! Wish me luck!
The big thing is that the test and the test material is quite different for the grammar part
As one of my Japanese teacher said, for n1 grammar part it's better to study mainly n2 material
Vocabulary is indeed something that's acquired by multiplying readings though, completely agree on that :)
@@Rebecca-bz6ph it's the same with the eiken english tests. If you go look at it, the highest level is mostly university-level vocabulary which even some native english speakers don't know. You definitely don't need to know that stuff just for living life, but it is definitely used in more educated contexts.
I am not native English speaker. And I was studying specifically for SAT. It was tiring and I burned out. And failed SAT. I hated English. Then I kinda quit it, but I was listening to RUclips as a background and reading fanfics (I couldn’t wait until they’ll translate it). So after couple month I passed IELTS I didn’t any studying. Reading and Listening 7.5. Writing and Speaking I did not practiced even passively so they were 6-6.5. So my advice is to have fun. Now English is almost my dominant language 😊
Congratulations on passing that!
And yes, for languages, if you can find ways to have fun with them you can learn SO MUCH more than by just studying. =) I agree!
Isn't IELTS made for foreign learners of English? SAT is made to be challenging for the natives, so the English section contains a lot of obscure words, expressions and grammar. It basically requires specifically grinding example/practice tests for an average american student to pass it with good grades (1520+). My Azerbaijani friend got 1530 after around 2 months of training for it, but he is halfway through between C1 and C2 (inputwise at least). So one has to train for the SAT specifically for quite some time on top of being able to get closer to 8.5-9 on IELTS for listening and reading. Especially considering how ridiculous questions for the native language exams can be. I personally was unable to get perfect score on my Russian exam for the test part. So don't think too much about it, a year or two of actively seeking for an advanced language material at your own pace most likely will get you there.
@@NewbieFirst I disagree, maybe they made the SAT easier in recent years, but I found it to be fairly easy (I can see how a non native might find it challenging though). For reference, I took it in 2019.
Pretty similar to me. I had to take English proficiency test a couple years ago so I bought books, got cds and did a mock test like what I thought I should do. Then I realized, why read something I don’t enjoy when I spend hours reading English web novels and watching English speaking youtuber every days already. When the score came out my family was pretty surprised because they thought I was just lying around unprepared until the test lol
To be fair most native english speakers struggle with the SAT english section
N1 has changed a lot, recent years it has become more and more practical
I did the N2 last week, first time I've taken a JLPT; I found that the reading sections were pretty demanding, in that a lot of the questions did ask you to consider the whole text and not just certain parts, so you couldn't just skim or scan for the relevant section and yeah like you mention, the texts are pretty chunky and there are quite a lot of them
Listening was diabolical though, so many times they try and misdirect you from the right answer by referencing other potential answers in the listening passage, and we only got to listen once unless someone claimed they couldn't hear the passage, which they allowed a few times tbf, but they still speak so fast. Some bits were easier than others, but pretty much every candidate I spoke to thought that the listening was the worst bit
I did it as well
The reading part was diabolic, had to rush trough the last few texts
Good luck to us both!
The listening part was quite diabolical for me as well. There is no reaction time at all for those questions that we can't see the answers. Good luck!
Listening was the absolute worst this time for N2, couldn't agree more.
the listening was hell! the quality of the audio wasn't good
Yeah idk why but I practiced with a lot of old N2 exams and they were all fine but the N2 JLPT this winter seemed a lot harder than the older ones. Many of my friends also said that they had a really hard time on that exam compared to older ones. Listening had always been fine for me but it definitely caught me off guard this time 😅
Exactly, the JLPT is a comprehension test that measures input ability, and it is a pretty good barometer for real input ability.
As you said, if you read a lot, it's fine even without specific study. Most of the people who complain about it just don't read.
The real problems with the JLPT are that it's only twice per year, you have to wait 2 months for the results and it's often poorly conducted.
For example, it's not fair when you miss answers in listening because someone else has their phone go off, or people are arguing in the hallway, or the CD stops, but things like that often happen.
WTF?? JLPT in my country is so strict. If your phone did as mere as vibrate your test is invalidated and you'll be escorted out.
@@319hiroyuki Yeah that person will get escorted out but everyone else still gets screwed over by that persons phone going off because they miss hearing some of the question due to the noise.
@@moyga I've heard other people say that the audio will be replayed. Is that not the case?
Great video to dispel any misconceptions surrounding examination as well sharing what you did to study in an honest and realistic manner. It helps tremendously.
That confidence is well-deserved.
Thank you so much! I'm glad to hear that it was helpful. =)
For the listening test, it reminded me of the English test I had to pass before moving to France, as I was told it would be really useful to prove I could speak decent English, as many people here don't really. So... I pretty much got 100% on every part except... The listening had three parts: formal speech, casual (slang) speech, and a long speech with regular English. The long speech talked for a straight two minutes without stopping. It was about Miss Watson having a bunch of problems throughout her day.
Q1: At what time did Miss Watson went to the hairdresser?
... Like that appointment she changed over 5 times in that 2mins ? I don't know... I can't even recall my class scedule altough it's been the same for the last 5 month and you ask me to remember something like this?
I got 60% on that one... Having it in my native language wouldn't have helped at all.
That's stupid because irl if you get that convo, you'd ask the key points you wanted to know again to confirm it.
Also no one speaks like that, i wanted to know at what time you could go to the company, not "what i planned to do but something happened so that's why i thought i could go at this time but then i realized there's a long lost relative who will visit at that time so i changed it again to this time..."
"At what time did Miss Watson *GO to the hairdresser?"
@@AaaaNinja See what not speaking english for years has done to me!
Yeah... People with a bad memory or ADHD are NOT able to do that. I wonder if they have accommodations for that?
Very interesting to hear that! I’ve been thinking about taking the N1 just for fun without any preparation! I passed the JLPT1級 like 15 years ago, before it was N1, and I’ve been living here since, so I thought it might be interesting to try! Cheers from Kobe!
I grew up in Australia, with Japanese parents. I did go to a Japanese supplementary school on Saturdays, but most of my knowledge was through talking to my parents, friends, and watching shows. In university, I decided to test myself out and try the N1. I fortunately passed, but not anywhere near 100%.
There is a lot of kanji and vocab I just didn't come across as a kid, but that definitely doesn't mean N1 is useless.
It covers much broader areas where Japanese is used. Whilst I did poorly on the reading section due to not knowing a lot of the kanji, I could get enough to pass.
However, I did manage to get 100% on the listening part. They definitely pull back on obscure vocabulary for the listening section, and they do only use natural realistic conversations.
I also teach beginner Japanese, so am thinking of taking some of the other levels in the future to see how they're like.
You are the only one who I can trust about this. I’m gonna take the N1 on the very next cycle and this is quite informative.
I took the JLPT N1 test the first time a very long time ago. I had majored in Japanese language at a US university, and had lived in Japan more than 10 years at that point, and I just walked in and took the test. And passed, but it was just barely. Then, working at a company, a colleague started saying to everyone that I had said I'd passed the N1, but it was so long ago, I must have forgotten it all, I couldn't really be at that level. So I walked in and took it again, and that time I remembered which sections I had questions on, which might have gone better... and passed with a very high score. I agree - the N1 is testing not the language-school class type Japanese, but the living-with-language competence type Japanese.
Then I heard about the BJT - Business Japanese Proficiency Test. That test deals with workplace vocabulary (confirming deliveries, inter-department vs intra-department vocabulary usage, accounting and stockroom management, telephone honorific competence, that sort of thing.) Instead of trying to guess your level, everyone takes the same test, and the score is from 0 to 800, with 800 being native speaker. Again, this is specific to specific situations and vocabulary, and if you're not in business settings, you won't do well, but it's not obscure or irrelevant. Because it is open-ended like that, it can come across as brutal. But based on the grade you get, a company can hire you with the confidence that you can do 'regular Japanese employee work', and if you're at the level, answer the phone or visit customers.
The BJT is run by the Nihon Kanji Noryoku Kentei Kyokai (日本漢字漢字能力検定協会) the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, or Kanken (漢検) for short. It's test that native Japanese elementary~high school students and others take, and it may have changed, but when I looked at it, it was FULL of obscure, irrelevant trivia questions about kanji. So such obscure, irrelevant trivia tests exist, but they aren't the JLPT or the BJT for foreigners.
I took the N5 here in Rome, Italy. There were a looot of people (but it must be said that here in Italy the JLPT can be taken only in December, no July, and only here in Rome and in Venice, which is a harder to reach city than Rome). As you guessed, there were much more people taking the N5/N4 than the higher levels.
The hardest part for me was the reading, because of my speed, and the listening.
Thank you for telling me about that! It's interesting to hear how it's done around the world. I'm surprised they only do it once per year if so many people want to take it! But still, better than 0 I suppose!
Hoping you can get the score you want on the N5! =)
c'ero anch'io!
i was taking the N5 in the same room.
it was a good checkpoint for me.
just knowing that i had paid for the exam, and the train, and the hotel room, and having a deadline, made me actually start studying!
i want to take n4 next year, and that will force me to study more grammar and vocab!
Same! I ended up taking N4 because all the spots for N5 were taken
@@user-rr1br7gs6u oh man... that really sucks!! there were less than 250 spots available for N5 in Rome. no idea about Venice.
IT WAS TERRIBLE!!!
I did the N3 in Venice, seats are quite scarce and a lot of languaghe students are taking them as it count for university credit, there were a lot more people attending lower levels but it is expected I suppose. I have to disagree that Venice is hard to reach, there is the train reaching the city and from the station the test facility is only about 15 minute walk and very accessible. Also technically Milan has a facility but for "reasons" was not able to organize the test so also take that in mind
I think a lot of the "N1 has random stuff on it" comes from the fact that most people taking it are coming from a primarily academic background so more nuanced day to day phrases/grammar points aren't things they're regularly exposed to. Any kind of immersion experience you can get goes a loooong way towards breaking through that.
It's kinda funny, because I feel a lot of those points in N1 seem to be even easier if you have experience with academic Japanese (at least from my own experience). Not saying they aren't in every day Japanese as well, but at least in terms of how the reading structure is, it feels similar than in academic writing (but much easier and understandable for people who don't know much about the topic). Also part of the listening is something you would hear at a Japanese university often and part of the reading in e-mails you might write to some of your professors at university in Japan (including the keigo of course).
Unless your comment only covers academic background in the country the people who take the test come from. Then I would agree more with it.
Hope you have nice holidays (if you celebrate any of them)!
I agree. Before I passed N2 on last December I had already started to read light novels on my own. (Though my Sensei does not suggest that I do that because there are some informal grammars or words.) Still, I suggest that people who are near the N2 level read novels that fit their level. It is extremely rewarding because you actually read in Japanese. Grammars like ざるを得ない are quite useful because they do use in novel. By truly enjoy reading these novel it increased my reading speed and help me to finished my N2 Reading & Grammar section like 20 minutes early.
do you have any recommended light novel for the N2 equivalent level? been meaning to start reading japanese books before fully commit on the bigger books.
10 years speaking Japanese, only once I used zaru wo enai irl, and it’s not even necessary since I actually could use nai to ikenai with the same nuance
@@tsukuneboy I don't think I've heard anyone say "ざるを得ない" IRL either but I've seen it a lot in manga, novels, articles, etc...So I guess it's mostly a formal literary expression rather than a casual one. Most expressions I've learnt for N2 could also be reformulated in easier words but were still ones I've met many times when reading.
@@sintech I read 無職転生 volume 25 last year 26 right now. I tried reading Re Zero, but it was too hard for me. I also read 青春ブタ volume 1. I think the difficulty for me is 無職転生
I just took the N4 in Tokyo. More people were taking N5 than N4!
For the listening part, they only played the audio once, but asked the question twice. They’d do the introduction, ask the question, then give the information, and then ask the question again.
I didn’t study for it cuz I was busy. I definitely failed the vocabulary part. 😂 but I nailed the listening.
Andy is such a huge inspiration for me. Thank you for everything you do!
Super interesting.
I’m enjoying reading manga and playing games in Japanese but no plans to take any tests 😅
Looking forward to hearing about your result
Thanks Kyushu! I have a feeling you could pass it with flying colors. ;-)
Me too, l'm not really all that interested in taking a test. I'm only learning Japanese to be able to read books, websites, and people's social media comments in Japanese.
I was shocked when you mentioned on the JLPT N3 they allowed you twice to listen. I took the JLPT N5 earlier this year and we only got to listen once. They didn't even pause for a second, they just continued to let the CD player keep going. It was so difficult, I really wish for the lower levels they would allow two times of listening.
Someone else mentioned that they did the same for N4 this year! I don't know if maybe they changed it since I took N3 many years ago, or if my memory has betrayed me!
I took the N4 and they did not, so maybe it is up to instructor digression. Seems like a grey area though, considering some had 2x listening and some did not.
@@Orange_Heart When you say "they did not", are you meaning they didn't only play it once?
If so, what country did you take the test in?
Not supposed to be twice. Only once.
@@hollidieker8679 US they played it only 1 time is what I'm saying
After studying 日本語 for almost 4 months, I took a practice N5 and ironically found that reading and 漢字 was the easy part, but I only got *2* right on the listening section.
That's something I noticed, and don't feel bad about it, since if you haven't had a chance to listen to the language a lot it can be hard to pick up on words you already know. That's what I did at the start, so I was fine with reading and kanji since I focused on that a lot, but didn't have much in terms of listening comprehension. Like with anything, just keep going for it and eventually things do start to clear up a bit.
This is why i'm holding off taking the test. I've mostly studied by reading and writing, and I feel confident in that regard. But I find it much more difficult to listen to a show or people speak. I actually find it easier to read japanese subtitles while listening to japanese shows than it is to just listen.
The listening part was BRUTAL. It's likely going to be the reason why I failed my N3 (well, I feel like I failed it). The reading was super demanding too. Lots to read with limited time, I had to just give up on a couple questions in order to focus efforts into answer all questions / answering questions I did understand.
I took it outside of Japan and there were a TON of N1 and N2, and hardly any people in my N3 section..
Edit : I should add that I played from like 0% to 85% of Sister Princess for PS1 and started an N3 focus vocab deck for a smidge over a month before the test, every single day. I finished a manga I had started reading earlier in the year too. All these 3 things helped me a lot for the vocab and grammar parts.
What deck did you use?
Can confirm that for N2 reading speed was everything. The listening section was easy and felt like not really N2 material (if you watch anime everyday at least) but hell those 30+ pages of reading were almost impossible if you didn't train for speed and as you mentioned you can't really skim through as the questions need the whole text and their meaning to be understood.
If you want to train for reading speed, get movies, etc. in a language you don't know but a version with Japanese subtitles. Because you can't understand the original language, you'll be relying on the Japanese subtitles... which zip through SO fast! The easiest subtitle reading speed is the NHK Hearing-handicapped nightly news, Education channel around.. 6:45 pm? for 15 minutes, every night.
Great video, Andy! (Brian here.) Your experiences line up with mine. I took the N1 in 2019 -- my first standardized Japanese test in decades -- and like you, I found the selections from the reading section to be interesting and realistic. Some were fairly easy, and some required that you really focus, but I agree that skimming is probably not the best strategy because, as you say, many questions want you to summarize what the author is really getting it, and that sometimes comes down to a single, crucial sentence that you could miss if you were just skimming. (Honestly, that is my advice for reading in general.)
The listening section was challenging for me too, for exactly the reason you mention! After over an hour of pedal-to-the-metal focus in the the earlier sections, I zoned out a couple times right during a crucial moment in the longer dialogs. "And the killer is..." -- (Wait, did I leave the the lights on at home) -- "Question: Who was the killer?" (No!!!!)
One other thing about the listening section is that you can forget which answer was the right one. It's like when you're on the phone and they say, "Press 1 for Sales, press 2 for Support..." and you listen all the way until the end and then go, "Wait, was Support 1 or 2?" But there's no way to go back!
So what I recommend is that when the listening section starts, you quickly draw a bunch of squares marked with A, B, C, and D (or some shorthand version of that). As you're listening, you can say to yourself, "Nope, A is definitely wrong" or "B sounds right" and cross out or circle them as you go. I found that helped me to eliminate simple forgetfulness/brain fog as a factor. You're allowed to take notes on your booklet (not answer sheet) so that isn't a problem.
In Argentina we were 500. More than 300 were N5 (and first timers). The N2 were 36 and the N1 only 20.
Demn 100k soon, congratulations on advance.
Thank you sxoxgxi! I think I still have another year or so until 100k, but we'll get there! =)
"Reading a lot and having fun" is definitely the best way to learn. The main grind in Japanese is getting good enough to start immersing. Breeding books all day and doing flash cards is effective but doesn't help outside of its bubble so much
15:15 I think you make a really good point here. However, I think that flashcards/test prep booklets can still be helpful. I think the problem (what most end up doing) is that waiting until signing up to start prepping for the test, which only gives a max of 6 months to study, is a surefire way to get burnt out.
I plan on taking the test at some point, but I'm not going to specifically grind it out to get there. The best approach for studying anything, whether it's a language or a subject for school, is to go about it at a sustainable pace. Using the N1 as an example, the jump in words needed from N2 is like 4,000-ish additional, so grinding those out in 6 months would definitely be dreadful. The better approach IMO would be to start from further out than the registration date, like maybe a year from the actual test date or so, which would then only require like 11 cards a day (sentence cards specifically) to reach that goal. At that point it becomes small, bite size chunks of flashcard sessions as opposed to spending who knows how long drilling cards every day. This would be super unintrusive and then give plenty of time for doing reading, maybe some practice test books, or whatever kind of fun supplementary study one could wish for. It's mostly about just finding a good balance.
Thank you, Andy. Great information and advice
I took the N4 this month and I can report that they only play the listening questions once now! In fact it felt super fast to me and my friends !
It's the same for N5, you only get one listening.
It was the same when I took the N5. Really fast, no breaks between sentences and really involved. I failed the test due to that part ugh.
I picked up Yotsuba recently and found an Anki deck from a reading club and have been going through that. I am pretty much a beginner but it's been tons of fun.
That's the trick! =)
If you're enjoying it, you keep going. If you keep going, you get better! Virtuous Circle for the win.
@@ToKiniAndy Exactly! It's been SUPER hard because I've hardly got my Hiragana memorized at this point but I really love and am passionate about anime and manga so it's making the process of getting started worth it. Even if for me it's just a page or two when I sit down.
But my end goal is to read a book that wasn't translated in a series I really loved as a younger adult. I must know how the story ends!!!
Have a tangible goal and making it fun is the best way to keep at it. Also thanks to yours and others great educational content. Super grateful for that. Arigatou!
I took the N2 in Kanagawa back in July. To a certain degree, it felt as if I was being tested on my ability to take tests (although my language ability was important as well). As was mentioned in the video, for the listening section if you zone out at all (which is hard not to do given how dry the conversations are) you are going to miss something. Combined with the deliberate attempts to confuse the listener (which imo were unnatural and/or could be very easily resolved in real life) the listening part was slightly tricky although not that bad from a purely linguistic point of view.
The reading section felt like a time management obstacle more than anything. Perhaps not to the extent that you mentioned about the N1 in the video but at the N2 level, many of the passages had to do with "reading between the lines" in a way that goes beyond just finding some concrete information in the text. This means that scanning and skimming techniques don't work as well and more time is needed to fully comprehend the text (i.e. I read the full text for many of the questions).
Vocabulary and grammar were somewhat of a hit and miss. Sometimes there were words I didn't know or a kanji I forgot. All in all this wasn't a bad section.
I agree that just reading more definitely helps. Or doing whatever it is you enjoy in Japanese is very helpful. That said, test booklets and the like are a good way to get an idea of how the test works, how to manage your time, and what areas you might need to focus on to improve.
+1 to the only textbook study burnout though. Currently dealing with that as I contemplate going for my own N1.
Took the N5 in Canada this past weekend, Most of the people seemed to be there for N1. This was not a small group either.
I live in Japan and consider doing the N2 because it feels like what I use in everyday conversations so I won't need to study as much as for the N1. I figured that it can't hurt to have the certificate.
Really loving the recent uploads Andy! Keep it up mate
I took N3 last december. We didn't have any of the listening sections repeated for us. I zoned out a few times, and yeah, you COMPLETELY miss whats being said. Happy to report that I passed though
coming from your discord and seeing you ask about editing preference and now the video is uploaded 👁️👃🏻👁️ mans works quick! excited to watch 🥰
Thanks Katey! I went light on the editing today! haha
I hope you can learn something from my experience. =)
The last time i see Jlpt N1 is literally when it says that u are already an expert in Japanese and understand advanced conversation like taking a breath
Interestingly, I'm kind of the opposite. I'm more comfortable reading/writing than speaking/listening because I'm not studying in a college environment, so it's just me, the computer, and the notepad. Hard to practice conversation that way haha. I'm still a beginner, but I won't give up, your content has been extremely helpful, as well as wanikani and satori reader.
I took my first N3 this December. First JLPT ever also. I'm (nearly) a beginner 7 months ago (I know the Hiragana and Katakana and a bit grammar, maybe around N5 level), then I found out about the immersion method. I spent 7 months watching anime with Japanese subtitle and learn from it. Beside that, maybe nothing at all, no books, no drills. I purposely chose to not study like you just to test how far can very-unrealistic-but-easy-to-understand anime series I've watched got me. Surprisingly it helps A LOT. I read very fast through the reading parts, it's very easy to understand even though i don't know much grammar, I identified kanji very fast too. I'm surprised as people (at least in my area) usually have to study for 2 years in school (with a teachers) in order to reach N3 level. It's a success for me!
Bro I'm not even N5 yet.
I took the n2 this year. I felt like the reading part was easier than I thought. I blew through the vocab words and once I got to the reading section I moved to the back and worked my way back up. Still listening was harder than I was expecting so I'm not so sure how I did. They didn't give you a second chance and the N2 as well. You only had one chance to figure it out. I haven't been setting too much but what I have been doing is playing the kanken premium has a DS game by I.E. institute. I learned about five kanji a day then I do the little quiz that they have for reading and writing and that's about it no more than 30 minutes a day. I really believe that has helped my kanji and vocab ability. I plan to listen to more podcasts strictly in Japanese and play more games to get prepared for the N1 next year!
I took the N1 in Switzerland!
My background: 7 years on and off self-studying with textbooks, youtube, lil bit of reading, talking to Japanese ppl when i'd get the chance (barely).
Kanji/vocab is usually my strength (in N3 and N2), but on this test I've come across a few kanjis and words I've never seen before... Though I have to admit I mainly studied with text books like Soumatome and Kanzen Master. (a little bit more media input wouldn't have hurt ig.) Unfortunately I haven't found the right media source (news, youtuber, ...) that could motivate me to immerse daily into Japanese, + it's pretty much impossible to get Japanese books that would interest me in my country.
Then, the reading section is always the same to me. Way too little time. Then I'd say for the next JLPT I'll read more and then... here we go again lol.
The listening section was extremely hard for me on N3 and N2, but on N1 it was the easiest part for some reason. To me it felt like the listening didn't get harder, it's just N1 vocab they would use, + if you take notes on the listening part it can be of great help.
I took the N4 and when I saw the list there were like 2k people taking the N4 compared to the others where it was only around 300-500.
It was my first time taking the JLPT and I honestly only seriously prepared for the test for a month. As in I didn't know what vocabs nor kanji were under N4, so I did a vocabulary and kanji speed run, it was so intense. I really studied as much as I can in one month.
Test day came and honestly, I was really... surprised? because it wasn't really that hard??? Maybe I'm being too confident about this haha but I'm about 90% sure I passed. Hoping to take the N2 next year!! Thanks fir the video!
@Nada i already knew a bit of japanese but the stuff I know are all spread out through all the N levels. Like some words I know are for N3-1 (according to my jisho). So I kinda wanted to assess what my level could be now. I didn't think it would be as high as N3 so I went with N4 for now.
What I meant here is that I solely focused on studying things you'll learn on N4, or mostly taught on N4. And what would appear on an N4 exam. Since I knew some vocabs/grammar/kanji already, I just speedran the things I didnt know.
Im sorry I hope I explained it properly 😅
Great content Andy, keep it up.
I took the n5 in DC. There were 2 rooms for each level but I dont know how full they were. I'm not sure I passed and if I did, I know I could have done better. I'm gonna try way harder and go for n4 next year but I'm still proud of myself for doing it 😤
N5 seems to be the most taken where I live. Northwest USA.
Totally agree with you. Maybe 15 years ago I had to the TOEFL (or something similar so you can get into Uni in the UK), and I never studied for the exam and passed with no problem at all. This happened for the same reasons you mention on this video. Just enjoy the language, and immerse as much as possible. Eventually taking these exams aren’t so daunting anymore!
Keep up the great content Andy! Hope to see a video soon regarding tips and tricks to develop your listening comprehension (besides immersing a lot 😁). Keep up the great content!
That is definitely something I've always wanted to do a short video on. I definitely have some ideas for what can help with listening comprehension. =)
Thank you!
TOEFL is quite similar to the JLPT, though I would say the speaking parts are less boring than the TOEIC or the JLPT (but it's not like I took them so many times, it could be sampling bias). The reading is probably closer to N2 rather than N1 in difficulty and length but still quite a few tricky questions there.
ビデオを作ってありがとうございました！来年ね7月にJLPTN3を受けたいと思います！
I took the N2 in Sendai and we were around 600 people that was quite intimidating. There was also N1 at my location, but only ~100 I think. No N5/N4/N3, maybe they were elsewhere in the city.
As for the test itself, I didn't study for it and I definitely had a lack of knowledge in kanji and grammar. I really enjoyed the reading part like you! Interesting texts, but sometimes hard questions..... I don't think I passed it, but going into it I thought of it as a training, and I will definitely pass it next time in July!!
Great video, almost scrolled past because of the thumbnail blended in.
Thank you!
Maybe I should put some kind of border around it! haha
I took the N5 test last week. There were 40 people in my exam room and there were 10+ exam rooms in the uni I took the test (from N5-N1, in HCMC). I was kind of surprise, because I didn't think that there were so many people. And that was just one of the exam locations in Vietnam.
The N5 didn't had two listening times... we only got it once and was not the best quality. That's the only section I wasn't feeling so confident.
I have heard these stories many times. That you'll pass if you are lucky and the topics are something of your field and so on. So I studied a little bit and took the N1 two weeks ago, even though I barely managed to pass N2 18 months ago...
I won't pass but I was not "lost" in the exam. Even though some Japanese people might not fully know all the words or understand fully all the sentences, nothing was that obscure. To be honest, some grammar points and vocabulary that came up, I learned them just by playing Pokémon in Japanese...
Did you pass? I'll be taking the N1 in December, and I barely passed the N2 last year... Even if I fail this time, I think that my study routine now will help me pass with a decent? score eventually.
@@fucchan_xodid you end up passing the n1?
@@butterfly22432 Yes! My score was 127/180.
I smiled when I heard the furigana katakana mix-up. A true hallmark of having been conditoned by Manga and Games. お見事
Sensei has mastered the art of clickbait . The youtube gods have found favor with you senpai 🙏🏻.
Finally getting a knack for it. haha
@@ToKiniAndy It's was super effective! 😹😹😹
Thank you so much for pointing the ざるを得ない grammar point. Contrary to you though, I had studied that grammar estructure last year and for some reason I thought it was such an useful expression I got it engraved on my brain and as soon as I saw it I was like "there it is! I know what you are".
I gave the N1 in Chile this year and coincidentally was an assistant for the JLPT N1 last year and the number of people definitely lowered in comparison. Last year it was like 13-14 people, I reckon. However, this year we were only 8 enrolled and 6 attended.
This was my first year taking the N1 (took the N3 for the first time in my third year studying Japanese and approved it the same year) and I totally skipped N2. I have to say it was challenging more so since I didn't study that much. I had a Japanese tutor weekly, but it wasn't as intensive as some weeks I had to cancel due to work.
Let's see the results.
the reason for so many participants might be covid restictions and therefore - JLPT cancelations.
my friends couldn't go to JLPT because it was cancelled 5 times already!
i was ultra lucky to have passed JLPT N3 in winter 2019, right before covid.
at that time i was so slow in reading - that i decided to not waste my time and guess every answer in the reading section - and it worked out! lucky me ;D
other sections were pretty easy, even though i have been studying japanese for only 1.5 years in university.
my teacher was very nonchalant about it - she said, when she went to JLPT N3 with her friends - they treated it like a fun little hanging out activity, so i shouldn't be nervous at all - and she was correct!
_
thanks for the video, time to level up my reading comprehension skills i guess)
Yeah, I've found that relaxing and trying to have fun on tests is the best way to make sure you perform to your full potential. =)
I fell asleep watching this video because sleep deprivation and had weird dreams about going to take the n1 test sideways on a slope
I took N2 for the first time. I studied every day for hours and months. Drove hours to the test site. After all that I didn’t even get to finish the test😣 they made us leave the room after the first half for the break & since my mind was wandering over the questions I misheard the return time. I came back 5 minutes late & they wouldn’t even let me come in to do the listening 😭😭😭 i cried so hard the whole way home. felt awful & stupid wasted so much time & money. I felt pretty confident abt the first part but the content was SOOO different from my JLPT textbooks and I’ve seen many ppl agree
In Poland, I would say the upper limit of examinees varies; last week's exam seems to have had an upper limit of 500, while the summer one, which I took, I could have sworn had an upper limit of 800. Maybe that's because of the season.
Also, this is scary: I couldn't help but check my result and it seems I got just a few more points than you! How?! I'm (always) behind on my kanji practice! :'D
Wow, that's a lot!
And wait, how were you able to check your results and MY results? haha
@@ToKiniAndy Oh, I was talking about the N3 results! ^^;;
I'm gonna study for N1 now! As a Japanese, I think I need this...Gonna need a lot of flashcards now...
Also, thanks so much for your assistance been Japanese for a year now and I wish I'd known about you in the beginning (pretty sure a lot of people are saying the same). #bestteacherever💯
Thank you Ivanoviich! I'm glad that I've been able to help. =)
I’ve passed 1-kyu and N1 a total of 5 times, one time with a perfect score, and the other times with scores >90%. Of course I failed the test once before the first time I passed it. I think that N1 is easier than the old 1-kyu version of the test because they ask questions like “what matches what the author most wants to say” rather than “which of these two sentences (written in hiragana) use the same kanji to write the word?
The time I got a perfect score, I did what you did - just took the test without studying for it (although I had studied for it previously). Actually that was the first time I took the N1 format. I would say that I have learned more Japanese AFTER passing N1 than I did in order to pass N1 (or 1-kyu). The expressions are not used every day in casual conversations, but I think just about any Japanese university student could get a near-perfect score. On the other hand, just because you get a good score on N1 doesn’t mean you know everything in Japanese. Just try picking up a newspaper, magazine or textbook and you’ll find that it is filled with words that are beyond the scope of N1. I think N1 is really the starting point for reading authentic materials, especially academic texts.
There are so many good resources for learning Japanese and studying for the JLPT. Actually I decided to study for the JLPT because as a self-learner I wanted something to help me answer the question “what should I study next?”
Of course not all foreigners in Japan - especially westerners - have N1. But if you plan to be in Japan for several years and you’re not an expat whose coworkers are expected to speak to you in your own language, I think achieving N1-level is going to make your life in Japan so much more convenient and fulfilling. After you get that level, and if you have good kanji skills, you’ll be able to keep improving your Japanese by consuming authentic Japanese media after you have N1. Also knowing the meaning of kanji (in English for me) will make it pretty easy to guess the meaning of kanji compounds in context. Not all compounds are obvious if you know the individual kanji, but many are.
BTW - regarding your point about reading speed - the time when I didn’t get a perfect score on N1 was when I ran out of time on the reading section (I only got the questions on the last passage wrong).
The listening part is “famous” for having conversations with very convoluted and unnatural twists and turns. It’s almost a test of concentration rather than a test of Japanese listening skills.
In my experience, textbooks and vocabulary lists are helpful for “beginners” (here I’m including everything up until N1) to get coverage of all the basics. After that the vocabulary and type of Japanese expressions that are most relevant for you will be different depending on your situation and interests. If you work in a Japanese hotel, obviously keigo and expressions about travel, etc. will be important, but if you just enjoy isekai manga, a lot more fantasy-themed Japanese will be important for you. The last thing I would re-iterate is that knowing individual kanji really well will help a lot in acquiring kanji-compound vocabulary. Without a solid knowledge of kanji, I think it would be impossible to attain N1-level Japanese.
I took Japanese language class in college coz I can earn credits while learning the language at the same time which was fun (and it pulled my grade up). Took it for 6 semesters (3 years), then signed up for N1. I skipped N5 - N2 coz the exam wasn't exactly cheap (not too pricey either but hey, I was a poor student).
I can't remember the tests, but I did remember I guessed the answers for quite a lot of questions, especially reading if I'm not mistaken.
The passing mark was 100. I got 104 😂
A pass is a pass.
Congratulations! "A pass is a pass" so good job! I want to take the N2 this December. I hope I pass too.
3 months ago I only saw the thumbnail of this video and thought: ok, seems I don't have to go for N1 ever, since it's about useless grammar, etc.. Today I brought myself to watch the video and was a bit surprised 😅
Im from the philippines. I took the n4 and it had more takers than any of the test.
The limit in Poland was 500 participants. If I remember correctly, about 40 people took the N1. I took the N3 along with 80 other people.
Great video, Andy. Excited to see how you did on it. I wish the JLPT was closer to me so I could take it. I would have to make a full trip out of it being 6+ hours away. Maybe once I get N3-N2 level I will take the trip 🤣
Thanks Mully!
Yeah, a 6 hour trip to take a test would definitely feel like overkill! When you get to that level maybe! Or maybe some day you can take it over here! =)
I took the JLPT N5 and 4 here in Brazil. My sensei advised me into starting doing the easiest (N5) and moving on to the more difficult ones (N4, 3, 2 and 1) depending on my level. Really, the majority of the people usually do the N5 and N4. I remeber once asking my sensei if there was anyone who would took the N1, and she said it's been years anyone did this test.
A couple questions:
1. What milestones should one hit before jumping into video games and mangas and stuff? For example finish japanese duolingo, complete certain anki decks, etc?
2. What games do you recommend. Some of your clips looked pretty cool.
I took N5 in Johor, Malaysia. It was the morning session along with N2. N5 ofc have more people than N2. For me actually I'm not sure if I'll pass or not cuz idk every word but it's def an experience for me being a 30 years old in the midst of 20 years old students. They even bring the minna no nihongo book to study in between. As for me, i just look at them study and try to catch some highlights. Was also trying to calm their nerves. Believe me kids, you don't wanna be nervous before or during the test.
This was really interesting to hear your experience! I took the N4 back in 2018. They played the listening questions twice and I remember there was a math question which I was not expecting. Ultimately, the listening section was what dragged my scores down.
A MATH question?! That's mean of them! haha
I'm super curious now if they changed the listening sections to just one play through recently, because others are saying that N5 and N4 were both a single listen this year!
Thank you for watching! =)
@@ToKiniAndyThe N3 test also had a single listening, I think that’s just how they do it now. I wished it was two. That would make the test MUCH easier.
@@ToKiniAndy From memory it wasn't a super difficult question but it was enough to keep me second guessing. Thanks for the great content!
I wonder if it was changed recently! Perhaps they got tired of people saying how easy it was! haha
I passed JLPT in 1997. Studied really hard for it for a year off the back of a degree in Japanese at university. Was elated when i passed.
However whwn i look at the content now it looks easy and I would expect to get over 95% without any study if I were to do it now. That said, I think my Japanese could be way better. The more you know, the more you realize you dont know.
Higurashi! man I love that visual novel, it's up there as one of my favourites, steins gate too? you got incredible taste
I haven't taken the N1 yet, but I have gotten really high grades on the ACT reading comprehension test. For good comprehension in any language, read the entire passage quickly but deliberately, making mental notes of important people and events that happen in the passage. Then, read the question and quickly rescan for the details that the question wants to know. This method allows you to understand the general concepts and context of the passage and then quickly find the details that weren't immediately obviously important the first time reading. Many times though, you'll already be confident in an answer and won't even need to rescan the passage which saves time. Only skimming usually makes people have to scan over and over again and miss important details or cause confusion about the situation. It may feel like an easy shortcut to save time, but if you feel the need to do shortcuts then you probably lack the skills that you're being tested on. Even if you pass, you still cheated yourself of reaching your potential.
This was my first time taking the JLPT and I took the N2. Reflecting on it, I took too much time on the reading, so I had to guess on many questions on the last two sections of the grammar (the sentence-forming portion and the fill-in the blank). The listening portion was pretty easy on my opinion. Overall, Idk if I passed or not so I’m pretty nervous.
Praying you passed! I also struggled a lot on the Language Knowledge section because I wanted to save time for the Reading section. I rushed a lot of questions but I also just didn't know a lot of things. In the end my Listening score made up for the LK score (i had 23/60 for that so, phew, close one). Maybe it'll be the same for you!
@@yowo6105 I did better than I thought tbh. I got 43/60 in the language knowledge portion, 41/60 in the reading, and 53/60 in Listening so in total 137/180. I probably could of scored around 50+ in the language knowledge had I not took too much time in the reading but a pass is a pass.
Reading speed really is key I think. I took the N2 this month, the only studying I did was grammar for a month - not every week, mind you - but I think I passed. Yes, the vocabulary section was awful to me, but I did really well at listening and reading so as long as I get the sectional minimum required points I'll be ok.
Why did I do good at listening? Because of anime and Vtubers. Why did I do good at reading? Because I have played several visual novels + read a bit of manga in Japanese and I'm used to reading. Of course, I didn't get the meaning of many words at the provided texts, but I was fast enough that I could re-read everything several times and get a grasp of what the conveyed tone and main point was. Because of visual novels and manga, I'm used to trying to understand whole sentences without knowing the specific words used. That helped a lot.
It's so nice to hear you talk about this. Because I also thought the vocab for N1 was absurdly specific, I was considering stopping at N2. I don't feel like studying for an exam anymore, I just want to keep doing the things I like. But from your testimony it sounds like I'll be okay if I just keep reading a lot and looking up weird grammar and vocabulary along the way. So encouraging. I'm so glad I came across this video!
what sorts of visual novels and manga did you read? i passed the n2, but barely passed for reading (20/60)
@@butterfly22432
Any manga is ok I think, they usually have hiragana. A short one I read is koe no katachi. Look back is even shorter. You can focus however on manga with daily life topics first, they should have easier vocab (Yuri yuri for instance? Slice of life ones)
I remember playing actual games with not much dialogue like to love Ru. I recently started Another code and that should give breathers from reading, too.
For VNs... It's better if they have voice over, like the gotoubun no hanayome games. The vocab in those ones is easy/moderate I would say. I also played steins gate but the vocab is more advanced with that one. However, even advanced vocab is ok if the story interests you so much that it gets you to keep going. For instance, I read yumeutsutsu (moderate-hard) and flowers (harder). I guess those are the ones that helped.
Edit: some advice that people who are serious for N1 also give is to read other stuff, like news and cultural reports, so that you get a costumed to the more formal vocabulary and the way of putting things into words. If you find them boring, I think a good idea can be to look for news videos on RUclips that have subtitles, and then focus on the subtitles
As someone whom took (and passed) the JLPT 1kyu in 2008, AMEN. I did find the listening part easier than the 2kyu, though. With the 2kyu it was always junk like two dysfunctional people arguing over when the bus was coming and where it was going only to end with a weird tangents on pomegranates. The 1kyu was stuff like "Clean the balcony because I want to put some junk there" or "Pick up the dry cleaning on the way home"
I also recently took the Eiken 1kyu (I am Japanese, after all) and passed that which I found to have similar problems to the JLPT at the top end. The JLPT doesn't have a spoken component to it, though.
I don't know anything about Japanese tests, but I know for a fact that when I took TOEFL to go to college in America, I basically did zero preparation for it and passed with flying colors because I was already fluent.
SAT on the other hand, I did study for it to make sure I get as high a score as possible, and I learned that the English part of the test seems to use obscure words and grammar rules to weed out the fluent from the hyper fluent.
😂 I have been here a long time too, grandchildren here now. I took the test in December with out studying has well. I read mainly insect and farming books, so my vocabulary is only strong in those areas.
I think I did okay in the first grammar section but the long reading section was a bit of a headache. I consider myself a good speaker but a couple of questions in the listening section threw me 😂. I used to spend my life in an all Japanese environment, but with fast internet access I guess podcasts and audiobooks have spoilt me.
Oh, I got N2 way way back when it was known as 2 Kyu.
Love your videos - you helped me get through my college JAPA courses :^]
I'm glad to hear that I could help Charlie! Thank you!
The N1 Reading section is quite lengthy indeed. For the average reader, it’s not possible to finish that much in such a short period of time. And it’s impractical too. At the workplace one has enough time to read stuff so having a time limit serves no real purpose. The total time for the first section should be at least 130 minutes, that would be fair.
For now, I would recommend to try to pass the N1 by achieving the minimum scores needed to get over the line.
Vocabulary-Grammar: 40/60
Reading: 25/60
Listening: 45/60
Would fetch 110/180 which is a decent passing score.
The reading section has six questions- Questions 8,9,10,11,12,13. Take your time and attempt any four of them. That’s should help in getting the passing marks.
N1 is mainly important for job applications and interviews as quite many companies set it as a requirement to be eligible. Show them the N1 Certificate first (and score report later or avoid showing). At the workplace, you can easily use translation and dictionary sites for the things you don’t know.
At the Ann Arbor, Michigan Location the most taken test was the N2 test. I believe this is because a threshold for most job applications in Japan seem to be N2 so makes sense.
Interesting! I didn't know that about job applications. Thanks for letting me know!
Yeah, looking up something on Gaijinpot right now I got "日本語でのビジネスコミュニケーションスキル ※Speaking/Listening: 上級 （equal to or above N2), Reading/Writing: 中級 （equal to or above N4)" for an HR Support Job.
That's makes a ton of sense then. Thanks for pointing it out! =)
Awesome video
Thank you Kevv!
Well it's a test so there's always a way to prepare and speedrun, but it really does not reflect your true language proficiency, and that's the biggest issue with JLPT. I got almost full score on N1 years ago but still my Japanese could hardly be considered as good enough at that time. I would still argue that because you can still get the points for reading even if you don't fully understand all the contents (you only need to analyze the structure and pick up the keywords), and for listening part, focus on the tone, you would be surprised how many questions you can just guess the right answer. Many other tricks like that, and that is why we say it is not a good indicator...
This is why I think, unless you're trying to go for work / school / required certification, it's better to learn a language for your own uses, not to pass a test. N1 seems to be the catchall that bridges the gap between advanced learner and native knowledge. In English, sure, you might not use the word "cacophony" everyday, and most people would probably agree that it's okay not to learn the word as an English learner. But that doesn't mean it doesn't come up. It's just nowhere near necessary unless you're consuming native media, meant for native speakers. I'm at around the N2 level and my tutor just told me to start taking note of every word I come across now that I don't already know.
At least that's my interpretation. If that's not the case, please correct me!
I had friends in Japan who said the N1 was completely useless but I always thought that was because they couldn’t pass it it the N2 even. This person actually spoke Japanese quite well. I couldn’t pass N1 either but I tried. People asked why I couldn’t pass and I said my vocabulary and kanji were ok but my overall Japanese ability just wasn’t there. I couldn’t process it fast enough. I thought the grammar and vocabulary were all useful though.
Part of the problem for people who "actually speak Japanese quite well" is that the test is grading to sort out people who are educated and can handle the level of formality used in writing and in formal situations, so people who are fluent in informal Japanese or haven't tuned into what kind of impression others gather from meeting them are at a disadvantage.
@@MNkno That’s probably true for some people but this guy worked in IT and had to support Japanese speaking customers in Japanese. He really spoke well. But he probably only really knew the grammar, vocabulary, kanji that he needed and the test goes a bit further. Even the N2 I guess.
Outside of Japan it is opposite like you said in India where I am giving the tests N5 has the most examinee and N1 has the least
just took the n2 exam earlier this month, while many of my friends complained about the reading section because there was not enough time or they thought the listening was hard, they were fine for me, but i have worries i might have failed the kanji and vocab section because i focused too much on grammar while preparing for the exam (i used the shinkazen master n2 grammar workbook) and didn’t focus on kanji enough :') and then the grammar turned out to be just a page and a half from the whole exam. if it turns out i didn’t pass it i’ll just focus on that next time
Started studying Japanese in 2016. I did N3 in 2018 July, N2 in 2019 July and N1 in 2020 Dec (July was cancelled due to covid). My N3 and N2 experience wasn’t that bad as I felt confident in passing but I felt that I had screwed up my N1 so bad that I didn’t think I would pass. Managed to scrape by with a 103/180.
I'll be trying the N4 here in July. I've lived in Japan for 2 years, but honestly feel like I don't know ANY Japanese. As sad as it is, because I moved here right as COVID locked everything down (couldn't go out) I got almost no real world practice. I studied kanji fairly hard for the first year hear, which helps me with reading a ton but still feel like I can't come close to holding a real conversation with someone.
When you mentioned "zaruwoenai" i just KNEW you were talking about Okabe lmao
I learned that grammar point the exact same way btw
Thats right.. by reading a lot, I was able to improve my reading comprehension t in the N2 level test
Am at 9:40 and couldn't help but agree wholeheartedly. I did N2 this year (first time taking the JLPT, after studying for about 2 years), and I'm pretty sure I passed though I admit I too was so tired during the listening section I zoned out midway and I had to guess 3 questions.
I understand the strategy somewhat of looking for the word in the passage and then reading the lines next to it to get the answer. BUT I never really do that myself. Because for N2 at least there is so much nuance in these passages that it can be very easy to miss out on them, especially on questions that ask 'What is the author's stance on...'. (Plus, I do love reading the passages. I would really love to be able to write Japanese at that level one day.)
Overall, JLPT was an interesting experience. I mostly studied reading news, articles, books, manga, videos...Some of N2 practice books here and there but never really made them my focus. I am considering N1, but I'm not holding myself to it.
To answer your question about whether there are less people taking N1 here (Singapore), I think I noticed a lot of people studying at least N3 and above. N2 was the most I'd think.
I think it might be interesting to compare it to the AP Japanese test I took earlier this year in my senior year of HS. There was actually a speaking/presentation section where they give us a topic and we have to present.
I totally agree with you! Thanks for dispelling this stupid myth. N1 just like other language proficiency tests aim for a formal, academic set of skills and knowledge, so ofc you're rarely going to encounter those things "in the wild." This is also why language tests aren't for all learners. If you're never going to attempt to use a language in an academic or professional way, you won't have to take those exams anyways.
I took the N2 the other day as well. Oh my god, I just blanked during the reading portion. I had so much trouble focusing on it! It wasn't even that it was hard material. I just couldn't get myself to focus.
I did N1 sample questions and I could not answer some of the questions correctly. I am native Japanese🇯🇵
I took the JLPT (N4, I’m still a little language baby, don’t judge me) in Washington D.C., and they had a limit of 80 people per level, so all five tests had an equal number of takers.
Heyy, never seen your vids before but youtube thought I need to see your channel and this vid was really interesting. :)
Just wanted to ask, how did you deal with the kanjis that you weren't familiar with in the medias you were reading/using?
I also want to work on my Japanese as a hafu living abroad, but my biggest fear is still kanji as that is probably stuck around 小6 level for me and I just cant seem to get in to it as it seems so daunting.