Is there any correlation between the Genki books and which JLPT levels they prepare you for? For instance, if I’ve finished Genki I, is that largely what I need for JLPT 5–or even JLPT 4? (And what if by exam time I’ll have completed Genki I and the first four chapters of Genki II?) ありがとう！
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Would also like to know! I’m looking at getting the first genki book to start working through soon
They line up decently well with JLPT. Genki 1 for jlpt 5 and genki 2 for jlpt 4. It would probably be worth it to look up some jlpt vocabulary lists as well just to make sure you’re covering all your bases. The makers of Genki also have an intermediate series called Quartet. It’s two books that mostly line up with jlpt levels 3 and 2.
The structure of Genki is not specifically geared towards JLPT levels, but, rather, a structure they deem appropriate for learning in a classroom setting. As a result, you will learn a mix of terms corresponding to multiple JLPT levels. For example, Chapter 17 of Genki II will teach そうだ, which is a JLPT N3 construct, but Genki I & II will not even fully teach all JLPT N4 and N5 constructs when all is said and done. If you think about it, this structure does make sense for a classroom textbook. The first thing most students learn is simple greetings and conversational phrases, but, grammatically, those structures are far more complicated than 「XがYです。」
That is not to say that it’s a bad resource, but if your goal is strictly passing the JLPT, it is not geared towards that goal. I find Genki very useful as a supplement to other resources, and I think, overall, Japanese is best learned with a combination of almost a dozen resources that you bounce between as additional clarity is needed. I should also note that it will get you *very close* to learning everything in JLPT N5/4, just not all the way there.
As far as a system that will strictly present to you the concepts necessary to pass the JLPT levels, I recommend [bunpro](https://bunpro.jp/dashboard), with the caveat that JLPT N1 is well on its way to completion, but not quite there, yet. If you choose to go with Genki, it also has a “Path” for it which lets you set your study topics according to the order Genki teaches concepts in.
As far as what I think will actually teach you Japanese, I think following the structure of SRS-based tools like [WaniKani](https://wanikani.com/), [KameSame](https://kamesame.com/), and bunpro is a great starting point, but you will need a lot of supplemental material.
For grammar, specifically, I find it most effective to look at a fairly simple overview of the concept from something like [PuniPuni](https://www.punipunijapan.com/) or [Maggie-sensei](https://maggiesensei.com/), to start with. Then, once you’re comfortable with the gist, check out more detailed resources on the topic like [Tae Kim](https://guidetojapanese.org/learn/), [Tofugu’s blog](https://www.tofugu.com/), [JLPTSensei](https://jlptsensei.com/) and the [Japanese stackexchange](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/). Bear in mind that these sites tend to scale back on precise linguistic/grammatical explanations, and as a result, their teaching may lead to edge cases requiring further research from time to time.
It may also be beneficial—once your understanding of Japanese is close to, say, N4 or N3—to check out native Japanese discussion using Google. Sites like [HiNative](https://hinative.com/) (a language-learning-focused site where natives of all languages can come together and answer questions for each other), [Chiebukuro](https://chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/category) (essentially Japanese Yahoo! Answers) and [Japanese Wikipedia](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%A1%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3%E3%83%9A%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8) can answer a lot of questions that you simply won’t find discussion of in English.
Lastly, if a topic still confuses you after all that, [Imabi](https://www.imabi.net/) is sure to have a level of detail and specificity that will allow you to understand the topic so well that you could teach it yourself. Of course, their technical explanations tend to be overwhelming without a rudimentary grasp on the subject to start with, but as a last resort, they will ensure you have no further questions.
If that sounds like a tremendous amount of effort, work, and plates to keep spinning, don’t worry. It is. A perfect, one-size-fits-all solution to learning Japanese simply doesn’t exist at this time. But I still think that through a combination of these resources, the journey IS completable!