Anything you wish you knew about idk, the format, breaks, etc. I know nothing about the test besides the fact that it’s a test to check your japanese proficiency
Edit: Just to clarify, I’m doing this to prove that I speak Japanese. I already do speak the language (my mom’s japanese) so I was thinking more of like things I need to bring, stuff about bathroom breaks you wish you knew, etc). All i saw on the website was don’t smoke, don’t bike there, no phones.
Do i need to bring my own pencil?
17 comments
Japanese
The reading comprehension part is long. Read the question first before finding the keyword on the paragraph. If you can’t find it, just move on. If the question seems to easy, it is a trick question so try to understand what it is really asking for. Good luck!
I found it helpful to skip to the long reading paragraphs first before the short grammar questions because they’re pretty exhausting, but you have to really manage your time carefully for that section.
Also I didn’t do many practice listening questions ahead of time, and they were longer and more complicated than I anticipated. Take notes as you listen. Do some practice questions to get used to writing and listening at the same time if you think that might be an issue. honestly I wish I’d done more practice questions in general, rather than studying kanji and vocab.
(disclaimer: I took N2, and it was a few years ago. still should be similar enough though)
You should have received a postcard with all this info.
You haven’t even taken a single practice test? Lol good luck
Definitely 煩い、把握する、試みる、and various ways to say “reimburse”。
Honestly, outside of foreigners hiring foreigners kinda jobs, the test means more or less nothing.
Any Japanese company hiring people directly will check your Japanese proficiency by confirming you understand what the hell they are saying in the interview.
So just relax, have fun, use it as a bar to measure yourself and not much more.
Bring at least three number two pencils, not two number three pencils
Whether you pass or fail, the result doesn’t truly dictate your overall proficiency in Japanese. I still believe the test needs a major overhaul, but that’s a whole other topic of discussion. Good luck and don’t stress about it too much!
Lots of moon runes
Get some kanji drill apps goin
Go to the book store and get a book with practice exams. Do a couple of those with time limits and that should get you used to the format and questions and probably give you an indication of where you’re at. N1 isn’t a joke and understanding the format will determine your results a great deal even if your Japanese is good.
I would recommend know your strong and weak points so that you can do the questions in the order that helps you the most.
When I was taking N1, sometimes I was so mentally drained from the hard reading questions that I would make silly mistakes on the easier passages. So I found it better for my scores when I did the easier ones first, instead of in the order they appear on the test
Otherwise it’s too late to be trying to cram in new stuff. You should only be reviewing stuff you know. When in doubt, hit grammar the hardest because it has the fewer pool of options for appearing on the test (compared to 10,000 words and 1200 kanji or whatever).
And good luck!
Digital watch. I just went to Daiso for one.
if you take the test just to test your power then just go without preparation. If you want to pass, search youtube for “n1 sample”, learn the pattern from them. In my case i took none JLPT but straight to N1 and passed it after three nights of doing stuffs on youtube
Something I wish I knew…
You have 110 minutes to do the test. But the time taken by the staff to deliver the question book and answer sheet are included in these 110 minutes. I thought the 110 minutes were counted as soon as the inspector says “Start”. But it is not. So you effectively have a few less minutes to do the test. These few minutes were crucial for me to copy the answer from the question book to the answer sheet. My result was 0/180.
It didn’t take so long for me to finish the first section. Some reading passages I read it twice, in fact. But if you like to take it slow with the reading, I would suggest you answer directly into the answer sheet.
I also speak Japanese fluently, but not natively because sometimes I use expressions that doesn’t sound natural to natives, which gives away that I was not raised in Japan after a few minutes of conversation. I thought I had aced the test except for 1 reading comprehension question. Vocabulary knowledge and grammar are ridiculously easy.
A lot of folks here telling you should/shouldn’t take the test, but that is totally personal. In my case, I never needed a certification as proof of my proficiency. Just talking in Japanese over the phone was enough to convince them I can speak it. I work as a software engineer and Japanese requirement in that field is very low. The only reason I took the jlpt was for the 15 extra points on the PR fast-track.
I’m also taking N1 next week, my third JLPT tests overall.
Some tips:
1. Bring your test voucher and print the self health check list as instructed in the voucher.
2. Bring face masks since apparently some places may still require it.
3. Arrive early like at least 30 mins. Sometimes the place is tricky so make sure you know exactly where it is.
3. Bring multiple pencils, sharpener and eraser.
4. Bring ONLY analog wristwatch. Digital ones are not allowed and usually there is no clock inside the room. Someone said digital one is fine but I’m pretty sure they’re just being lucky but technically it’s not allowed since they have alarm function usually. Time the test yourself since it starts since they won’t give you any warning until the the test is over.
4. Make sure you turn off all electronics device. In previous tests there’s always people with their device making sound and they ended up disqualified despite being told to turn everything off.
5. Time your hydration before the test to avoid toilet break during the test
6. Don’t be that guy who’s fidgety and shake the whole desk (sometime it’s in lecture room with shared desk) or keep flipping paper and break people’s concentration.
7. Read the rules in the test voucher and listen carefully to the proctor’s instructions during the test.
8. Don’t delay putting your answers to the mark sheet till the very end of the test section.
9. If you have any questions during the test, don’t use your voice and just raise your hand instead.