I live in Japan and took N2 last December and passed with a good 160/180. I signed up for N1 this July but I haven’t prepared anything yet. I’m kinda afraid since I often heard the gap is actually pretty big, while I want to rack up a good score since taking it multiple times is kind of a hassle and issuing certificates has extra costs here. I just entered a college (専門学校) this April, but unlike other colleges my friends go to, mine doesn’t have a JLPT prep class so I have to pretty much do it myself.
Should I mostly read organic sources (novels, news, etc) this month and start doing exam practices next month? Or any other better advices? I kind of don’t wanna buy a study book because it overwhelms me and I always end up not doing anything with it, I’d rather use few pages of test samples. Any good resources I can use is welcome as well!
One more side thing, I was thinking of looking for an arubaito to practice my speaking more, but I’m an art student with quite a lot of assignments, would it be wiser to start after I actually finish the JLPT N1 so I’d have time to study?
Thanks in advance!
3 comments
I’ve taken the N1 twice and, while I didn’t pass it (got damn close though), I think it would do a lot of good for you to read academic writing such as science or business articles that you might find at a university. The reading section of the test will especially contain content of that nature.
Organic materials as you mentioned will certainly help in your being able to pass the N1 exam as well.
While I passed N2 without really studying specifically for the test, for N1 I remember needing to get a grammar book because there were a lot of more esoteric grammar points that didn’t show up so often in real life.
I think the books are well worth it for grammar and vocab sections.
Grammar is high-value studying — there are a limited number of constructs they can ask you about. It’s worth just going through the book.
Listening comp and reading comp are imo pretty easy if you’re used to reading and listening to Japanese. After having spent a year in Japan and reading the newspaper with some frequency I found both of these sections easy.
Vocabulary is the hard one because it’s almost limitless what they can ask and you’d do well to look at some of the heuristics the study guides suggest for guessing at kanji readings.