Going from N5 to N3 in 4 months and taking the JLPT

Bunpro
#1

I’ve decided to participate in the JLPT December this year, after years of on and off learning I took the opportunity of this December’s JLPT test as a way to get serious with Japanese.

Between 2017-2021 I would study the language for a couple weeks and stop, but I’ve been keeping a good streak since Aug 2024 to prepare for the test. It might be a bit weird for some people as the title suggests I’m going for the N3 test even though I technically just started learning Japanese again, and yeah, it’s a LOT.

However, I’d like to clarify that I started this challenge already knowing Hiragana/Katakana, about 80 kanji and 700-900 words that I remembered from my past studies. With this in mind, getting to an N3 level by using Bunpro would mean around 30/40 new words, 10 kanji and 10 grammar points every single day until November, this will leave me about 3 weeks for me to review all the content, do tests and prepare for the JLPT N3 in December 1st.

I’m posting this just to share my experience and keep me accountable for my progress, so far, I’ve finished:

  • Full N5 vocabulary, almost finishing N4 vocab (less than 10 days to go)
  • Full N5/N4 grammar
  • N5/N4 kanji, with about 70 N3 kanji already learned (I have an anki deck for them separately + them in context with some new word that uses the kanji).

What does this look like in my day-to-day? About 4 hours of study every morning from 5:30-9:30am to review and study all new content and an extra hour of revision at the end of the day (around 8pm). During the day I like to immerse as much as possible in comprehensible input like YouTube, games and reading. I’ve been playing Youkai Watch 4 on a Switch emulator and reading Yotsubato! which is a really easy manga to understand if you’re N4+.

BY FAR the best channels I’ve found in comprehensible input have to be:
Japanese with Shun (The GOAT) https://www.youtube.com/@JapanesewithShun

Bitesize Japanese Podcast https://www.youtube.com/@the_bitesize_japanese_podcast

Speak Japanese Naturally https://www.youtube.com/@SpeakJapaneseNaturally

I’ll try to make some updates in here every once in a while to record if this is actually working or not, but I must say that this past month of study has been 10x more helpful than anything I’ve done in the past, by the 40th day of study I could understand pretty much 90-100% of Japanese With Shun’s videos targeted to N5/N4. Bunpro has been excellent for learning grammar and vocab, and I’m also using Yomitan for a different Anki deck (More slangs and words not found in Core 2.3k deck).

Strongly recommend this type of approach if you have free time, I work home office so this is an easy way for me to study the language. Even if you don’t actually learn 100% of what you study, the super fast progress is astounding to me so far, would love to know your thoughts on this idea.

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#2

I like this fast-paced approach as well and wish you the best of luck in your studies!

My recommendation is to make an Excel table chart with all the data)

If you have any other cool insides please share)

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#3

While writing this, I saw your own post as well, good luck too! I’ll start gathering my data in some sort of chart from now on

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#4

Thanks)
I guess we spend quite similar amount of time on this, mb you spend a little more from what I can read. It’s nice to have a human being who also does this kind of challenge! (even though my goal is not jlpt test but idek what for now)

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#5

I like concrete goals like the JLPT to give me some clear direction on “what’s next” in the language, but I’m just using this to get a grip on the language, enough to start immersing in other media and learn while playing games, watching shows, reading books, etc.

I still plan on taking N2 or N1 next year too, but I’ll definitely ease off the “6 hours a day” thing after December and take my time enjoying the process.

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#6

November 19th 2024 Update: I’ve finished all N3 grammar points and I’m finishing all kanji this week, I’m also doubling down on immersion (anime, podcasts, youtube videos). Been reviewing a lot of N4 content since those are the textbooks I have but I’m also looking for N3 free tests online to prepare.

Only thing that’s worrying me is that I will end up taking N3 with 1000 less words on my vocab list than I wanted :skull:

Anyways, whether I pass the N3 test in Dec or not, this was SOOO USEFUL I can’t even describe it, going through all this content N5-N3 in a bit more than 100 days has opened my language skills to SO MUCH STUFF, most of it is still content targeted to learners but there’s quite a bit of native content I can understand (i.e Instagram reels, streams, anime episodes). This was so useful, in fact, that my plans have changed: I will continue with the 4-6hrs of intensive study up until the end of January, my goals are to finish all N2 & N1 grammar points and as much vocab/kanji as I can as well.

I know I’m not getting fluent by just cramming as much info as I can in my head, but so far it’s working as a base to consume content, enjoy media in Japanese and learn more stuff naturally.

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#7

I’ve slacked off for almost 3 weeks in October which explain the huge delay in finished N3 grammar + the vocab being sooo behind schedule. But I’m still confident I can get a good grade on N3 on Dec 1st.

#8

Congrats on finishing n3!
Don’t you think going for n2 and n1 is superfluous?
Of course it will boost you if it’s your main source of content, just because you are working with language and constructions, trying to understand and repeat them, but n2 and n1 point’s are not so useful, isn’t it better choice go with n3?
Grammar shouldn’t be the problem I think

#9

Like I was making cards form most Frieren episodes (3-15) and there are like no n1-n2 points -_- All the new points are n3 and there are a lot of them.
Or they are understandable with just yomitan wich equals them to regular words

For me learning new point like this with words I won’t is much more pleasant)

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It was hard to make a choice not going for n3-n2-n1 at one, but I’m not regrating at all.
I don’t know what you want to use as content, but if it is Fireren you don’t need n2 and n1)

Maybe add point you’ve encountered during immersion, got them, added to Anki (or as you sentence here), and then add this point? This way you’ll understand which of them you really need.

#10

Hmm, I’m already sentence mining like you but I guess you’re right, I will still work through N2/N1 grammar in Bunpro but I can do way less per day than I originally planned, thanks for the advice!

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#11

Question, how much of Frieren do you understand completely? I mean that in both grammar and vocab, if you were to watch JP subs only while being N3.

#12

I think most of it. If you know all words there and all n3 grammar flawlessly.
Like there are really nothing more then n3 and some old fashioned expressions.

n2 and n1 looks like keigo, and compound points, and word points.

I’m not sure in what I said above, but I think the easiest method is to count a few days n2 and n1 points you encounter, and then if the number is like 2 or 3 a day, then you’ll probably won’t get much from it. Could heavily depend on content you are watching.

Could I ask what do you watch right now and what’s your level of understanding?

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#13

Can I ask about your method for immersing with games? I assume you’re using software on the PC for translations like a texthook if its an emulator- possibly a link to a guide if you have one? I was thinking of trying Ni No Kuni (on steam) as apparently this is an easier game to immerse with and the lovely Jo-Mako has an ANKI deck for it.

I’m not quite N5 level yet (I begun studying 2-3 months ago) but I’d like to start immersing, I have Yotsubato! on my reading list but any tips for immersing for a beginner would be appreciated.

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#14

I haven’t seen this show so went to check it out just now based on this comment. Within the first few lines is the sentence:

魔王を倒したからといって 終わりじゃない

Which includes N2 grammar, I believe.

It’s easy to not notice grammar if you don’t know what it looks like so just be wary, is my advice.

I did pretty much exactly this for N2 and N1 and it worked great. Just add things to Bunpro as you come across them or occasionally scroll through the grammar list on Bunpro and manually add things you recongnise.

There is a texthooker called “agent” which uses specific scripts for games so it is extremely reliable. If you use a PC to game then I would suggest checking it out. I believe it has the Steam verson of Ni No Kuni or the second one (amongst many many other games). There are also other texthookers and also various ways of capturing text, of course,.

By the way, at N5 things may be a bit of a struggle so if you find things a bit tough it may be worth going for a game you know really well or even playing a bit of the game in English then replaying that bit in Japanese the next day or a week later or something. Good luck!

#15

I’m thinking on using the software CursedKitsune mentioned since I saw that a few weeks ago, but right now I’m just playing Youkai Watch 4 and searching words I don’t know (inefficient as hell, ik).

#16

I haven’t immersed myself in much content higher than N4, I can understand children’s books, podcasts and videos targeted for N5-N3 learners, and a lot of vocab from anime (although I’m mainly watching Ergo Proxy right now which has some tech-related vocab cuz it’s a sci-fi anime). Even though I know a lot of vocab I don’t think I can rely 100% on japanese subs yet (even with Yomitan), I’m reviewing a lot of content up until the Dec test and hopefully I’ll get better at consuming japanese content.

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#17

Ye definitely n2 as I checked it
Maybe there are some which I’m not noticing, I just assumed there are very few because I occasionally look up points when I can kind of guess it’s a point, and it’s always n3 and only a few times n2 or n1.
Also as I said many points really look like words so it’s possible to understand but not notice that it’s a point.
Anyway thanks for mentioning

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