If you’re like me, doing all the vocab/grammar questions first and then doing all the reading questions means slogging through exhausting text passages. Instead, consider alternating between the less taxing vocab/grammar questions and the more tiring reading questions.
(For N5/N4/N3, I think you will have to do your vocab section first, but you can still alternate between grammar and reading questions in the second section.)
For my first mock N2 test, I did all the vocab/grammar questions first and all the reading questions after, and it was exhausting doing reading question after reading question. I ran out of time with two reading questions left.
For my second mock test a month later, I alternated one page of vocab/grammar questions with one reading passage and finished with 15 minutes to spare. Yes, some of the studying I did during the month helped, but I was also just less tired throughout the test because I got a “break” after each reading.
Of course, you still need to make sure your reading speed is sufficient. There’s no point if you spend too much time on reading and run out of time to do the vocab/grammar questions.
I haven’t taken the actual JLPT yet (will take N2 in a week!), so if for some reason this technique won’t work on the actual test, please let me know!
2 comments
The test is given in specific chunks like the SAT. There is no option to just do things as you please, so none of this applies unfortunately.
Order is:
1) vocab, some grammar.
2) grammar and short+long readings
3) audio
I see people talk about strategies like this all the time but they just seem like someone trying to hack a test instead of improving their Japanese ability. If you’re getting mentally tired by the end because you had vocab/kanji then reading, your Japanese is probably not as good as you think it is. Instead of trying to hack a test *that isn’t about how many questions you get right* anyway, why not just improve your weaknesses with the language.