Hi all!
I hope everyone is gearing up for a great weekend! Today we are proud to announce a new feature that we have been working on behind the scenes for quite some time now… JLPT Practice Tests!!
While not everybody is aiming to take the JLPT, it is universally considered a measure of competency that is synonymous with Japanese language learning.
We wanted to give people taking the test a quality practice resource while also letting those not taking it have something they would be able to accurately measure their ability by, and hopefully have a bit of fun while doing so! Let’s get straight into taking a look at the features.
Overview
- 25 Full JLPT Practice Tests (5 for each level!).
- Accompanying illustrations.
- Professionally recorded audio.
- Special Badges.
- JLPT Level indicator for your forum profile.
Breakdown
Practice Test Index 
On the JLPT practice test index page, you will find five complete tests for each level, including a breakdown of the questions per section and the total test time.
This page will also show you your final score and most recent test date for each test.
Details
Clicking the Details button for any test will give you a further breakdown of the allotted time and let you start any given section of the exam.
Test
Inside each test section, everything will be in Japanese, reflecting the format of the actual JLPT.
Let’s take a look at what this page is showing us 
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The main test question container on the left:
- Instructions - These will change based on the question type, and will inform you of exactly what is expected of you in each section.
- Test question - Depending on the question type, you may see an underline, a blank, a text block, an image or an audio file.
- Answers to choose from - You can simply click on what you think is the correct one, or use hotkeys 1-4 to choose.
- Navigation - Arrow buttons let you go back or forward. Useful hotkeys are the left/right arrows and enter.
The Answer sheet on the right:
- There is a timer at the top that will count down your remaining time.
- Please note that this is a soft limit timer, and it is there to just give you an idea of whether you were over or under in time. We don’t penalize you for going over.
- Additionally, if you need to pause your test, simply close the test. When you open it again later, the timer will begin from where you left off.
- Test question answer sheet - You can see which question you are currently on, and if you skipped any. Clicking on any question number will navigate you directly to that question.
- Submit answers button - Will end the test and check your answers for you.
Note: The JLPT has breaks between each section. We chose not to force you take a break at all (and no arbitrary minimum amount, like 2 minutes, either). If you are aiming for a more test like experience and sitting down to do a full test in one go, you should definitely consider taking a small break between sections.
Test Makeup
Although each level has a selection of different question types testing different broad language abilities, all tests are divided into the following:
Vocab - A mix of both kanji and vocabulary in a variety of question types such as recognition, recall, usage, replacement, and several others.
Grammar & Reading - Sentence composition and long-form questions designed to test one’s ability to be able to extract specific information from items such as passages and posters.
Listening - Questions that test one’s ability to understand spoken Japanese and either choose appropriate replies, or identify key points within a conversation.
Just like the official JLPT, all of our tests are accompanied by professionally recorded audio files and have artwork where appropriate.
Test Results
So as to not spoil any of the tests, we won’t include a screenshot, but after you submit your results, you can open the test section up and see:
- Your answers versus the correct answers.
- Quick links to relevant Bunpro vocabulary and grammar points associated with any question (very useful for brushing up on any missed questions).
- Extra information/reasons showing you why an incorrect answer doesn’t work, and in many cases a detailed breakdown indicating how you can find the right answer.
- On listening sections, the audio transcript is available.
Badges
If you pass at least one test, you will earn the associated badge!
While the JLPT uses a private scoring system for weighing each question, the criteria for what we consider a passing score on our tests is: 70% or more total with at least 40% on each section.
If you can achieve a passing mark on one of our tests, you will likely be able to pass the official JLPT. That being said, the actual test varies quite a lot in terms of difficulty year by year.
Forum Indicator
Passing a test will also give you a JLPT indicator on your community forum profile! We feel this will be a much more accurate representation of one’s ability than just the standard 1-100 level that has been displayed up until this point. (This feature is coming very soon!)
Accuracy
We have based our practice tests off of the most up to date information publicly provided by the official JLPT website. We have also matched them as closely as possible in terms of difficulty, question total, and duration. However, if (and probably when) the JLPT changes slightly, we will do our best to make small alterations to our tests in order to keep up to date.
One key difference between an official JLPT test and our practice tests is that during the listening section, we allow you to replay audio files as many times as you like. During the actual JLPT, they only play it once. For those wanting the real experience, we recommend proceeding through the test question by question and only listening to each question once in order to get the most accurate representation of your overall ability.
(If you want a really authentic listening test experience, just hook up an external speaker, turn the volume down and put it in the far corner of your room. Even better if you’re sitting near someone tapping a pencil 
)
We believe this first batch of five tests generally vary from slightly on the easy side, to level accurate. In the future when we release another batch, we will aim to make them slightly on the harder side and put an indicator on each test showing their relative difficulty so that users can get a better gauge of their ability.
Availability
All 25 tests are 100% freely available!
We have made these practice tests accessible to anyone, regardless of whether or not they are a paid user, trial user, or even if they have no Bunpro account at all!
When initially doing research for this project, we found that there was a lack of stellar, accurate JLPT practice tests publicly available, especially ones with quality audio (probably one of the tougher parts of the JLPT).
We want as many people as possible to be able to use these exams whenever and wherever they want, regardless of whether or not they call Bunpro home. Being able to equip people with the tools they need in order to reach their learning goals is at the core of our mission, and this is just one more feature that is allowing us to do just that.
We would love it if you shared these tests with your friends, family, or internet strangers looking to practice for the JLPT, or get a better sense of their current level!
If you have any feedback, suggestions for improvements, or anything else, please don’t hesitate to let us know!
As always, thank you for being a huge part of what motivates us to do what we do, and we hope that all the love that was poured into this project by everyone on the team shines through! 
Super happy to see this in particular, especially for the higher levels where understanding small nuances is key.
