I’ve been studying 3 hours every day for the test in July and I find myself forgetting grammar, kanji, vocab no matter what I do. Even if I were to put in more hours, my head feels like a rock from panicking too much which stops me from taking in any information, so the study time is almost wasted. I find myself panicking every day looking at the overwhelming amount of words I need to know along with the reading test which trips everyone up. The fear and anxiety is making everything feel impossible. I live in Japan and have been happily speaking Japanese with my wife and our family up until this point and now I just feel so discouraged and it’s gotten to a point where I can’t even make conversation anymore and any confidence I had has now just been crushed.
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\*deep breath\* hhhhhhhhhhh…..fuuuuuuuuuuuuuu….
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URGH! Can somebody please relate? I don’t want to feel alone anymore lol!
15 comments
calm down! you can do it! I’m rooting for ya
good luck! It sounds like you’re your own worst enemy; I bet you’re understanding plenty, but just not performing well under all this pressure you’re putting on yourself. The test alone isn’t a perfect sign of your fluency, and it’s certainly a hard test in general, so you shouldn’t beat yourself up so much over it, IMHO.
You’re putting in the work, so if you’re feeling overwhelmed by all the things you don’t know, try to work on reviewing the stuff you do. Think of your strengths and which areas you’re more likely to score points in, or areas where there are fewer things to remember (like grammar vs kanji/vocab, the latter has an infinite number you have to learn but grammar is only a limited number of items for the test level, so if you review them hard enough you’re more likely to know them for the test. Whereas even if you spent those 3 hours of studying only on vocab/kanji, the ones you studied aren’t guaranteed to show up on the test)
I can feel the noose tightening too…
“Only” two months left and I am not getting the scores I would have hoped on the practice tests. So much grammar I have not seen before, not enough time to properly understand the reading sections, and listening can be a crapshoot as there is a ton of vocab I know how to read, but never heard in conversation…
I just hope I see some improvement until then, not being able to truly score your own tests is creating so much vagueness…
It’s hard. Are you using spaced repetition at all?
Is there a particular reason why you’re taking that test?
Remind yourself why you are taking the test. Do you absolutely have to pass it? I’m guessing that’s unlikely. If you do pass you have your current Japanese ability and a bit of paper that says N2 on it. If you don’t you, have your current Japanese ability. Don’t worry about it. Just study an appropriate amount and give it a go.
Passing and not remembering absolutely everything for the exam are not mutually exclusive. This is a test, thing strategically. You only need a certain amount of your answers to be correct to pass. Just keep sharpening you skills and studying, don’t worry about forgetting things. Maybe not the most eloquent, but please just thing strategically, you can donit
I think I have a lower level than you, however, I put all grammar through N1 to my anki, it took me 2 month to learn it, and I don’t think I’ll ever completely forget a grammar point. Even if I can’t translate at some point, I’ll have a rough idea when I see a sentence with the grammar point. You don’t have to do this, though…
Now, I read novels to solidify the roots. I think proper immersion is required at some point. Speaking with your surroundings may not be enough, especially for N2 grammar. Some is only frequently found in literacy.
However I think your hard work will pay. Good luck !
There’s already other advice in this thread, but you got this. Deep breaths. It’s really hard to get to that level and you’ve done awesome work so far from what I can tell! Just keep going!
Sounds like exam PTSD… just chill, passing or not isn’t the end of the world. If you walk into the exam stressing about it, it won’t go well but if you don’t care so much, it’ll go much better… same thing with studying.
That said, you’ve gotta have the experience of stressing about it and screwing it up at least once in order to learn from that experience… it is a mental game after all.
I’m rooting for you, random internet stranger. What helped me prepare for exams is to just LARP as someone who’s going to ace it. Once I’ve convinced myself I’m the kind of person to ace the exam it helps calm my nerves and get into character, AKA actually study. Best wishes.
I wonder if this is an offshoot of living in Japan – here in America, we wouldn’t be so worried but there are one off tests in Japan that just stress everyone out. I remember Tokini Andy took the N1 and his wife was like “Aren’t you worried or stressed” and he was like…nah – in America we don’t have one off tests that decide your future like that
I have taken a couple of extremely complex tests voluntarily – here’s what I’ll tell you – the morning before, do something fun that relaxes you – do not cram – at this point, if you don’t know something you won’t – instead use that time to ease your brain into a place of relaxation – and it goes without saying – try to get 8 hrs sleep.
Remember this is not a final test – if you fail, you know what you need to work in, and come back and try again. You haven’t said something like employment or job security is riding on this exam, but if so I’d still give you same advice.
There’s a reason you started learning Japanese – it might be personal but at some point maybe it was for fun – (reading Manga, watching Anime or Samurai films) – make part of your study non-educational – I.E. – do those fun things you enjoy and absorb some knowledge that way
Rooting for you – good luck!
Just remember learning a language isn’t a race and you have made alot of progress since you started learning Japanese. Celebrate every victory no matter how small!
Please dont worry about the exam because that is enough to make you fail.
The way I passed, I never studied for the exam. Instead, I busied myself with Japanese. Watched Japanese, read Japanese, and listened to Japanese. This will save you time worrying about the damn test. If you do want to worry about the damn test, do it in Japanese.
BUT. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU DO AT LEAST TWO TIMED PRACTICE TEST. Those on the JLPT website are enough. Preferrably waaaaaaaaay before the test day itself.
A lot of test takers fail not because they don’t know Japanese but because they don’t know the JLPT. You need to teach yourself that if you dont know the answer, you need to let go, just guess, and move on to the next question so that you finish the exam. Those who couldn’t learn that don’t fail Japanese. They fail the JLPT.
Think about where you were and where you became You are great and your achievement is better than many people so stay confident in yourself take it easy Adding extra time in the study will increase stress and psychological pressure so make your goal learn if one thing new and not increase time, also u can do it u can don’t give up you are the best! 頑張ってください！