LLearn Japanese

Books/material for practicing reading long passages for N1

So I took N1 last Dec and failed because I didnt have enough mental energy to read the passages.

Any books or materials you would recommend for someone preparing for N1, particularly the reading section?

Thanks in advance

3 comments

  2. Where are you located? If you’re in Japan, signing up for Kumon’s 国語 course has been a big thing that’s helped me with reading stamina. I’ve been doing Kumon since I was pretty low level, but I have a friend who started Kumon shortly before his 1st N1 attempt and he said he noticed a huge improvement in his reading abilities between his first N1 attempt and his 2nd one a year later

    If you’re not in Japan, then the obvious recommendation would be to get a book and read it. A book of essays would probably be best, since that’s the type of writing the test seems to lean into. If you want something with a little more structure, I’d recommend a JHS level 国語 workbook (tbh that’s basically what Kumon is). I’ve never bought one, but here’s a [random one](https://amzn.asia/d/69XEEDJ) I found on Amazon

  3. 1) Literally almost any native material will do. Newspaper articles, particularly editorials, might be a good place to start.

    2) Book-wise, the first Wheel of Time novel had a lot of vocab and kanji from Nihongo Somatome, even within the first chapters.

    3) 日本語N1文法・読解まるごとマスター, to me, was particularly good.

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