Thank you @Vardaark I do agree very much with this. I did have that feeling half way through my last study period… I felt wow im making progress in terms of quantity but the quality felt off. I did probably need to slow down and will use that going further.
You know usually after every exam, I always complain to my wife about how i wish it wasnt timed. Sure i get it its a test and such. However, i never felt like testingm y proficiency in a language should be timed. Sure in real life if I dont answer someones question right away it mmight be weird but I feel like at my job they wont sit me down and time me to finish a report or lesson plan. Totally agree that test taking in itself is a practice worth, well, practicing.
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I’ve only read parts of this thread so forgive me if I repeat something. I would get the migii app in addition to bunpro and follow the testing in it as truthfully as possible. I just passed n3 and used it to get comfortable with the format and answering the types of questions on the test.
I have no idea if you are American or not but the way many people achieve high scores on the SAT/ACT is via specific instruction on the types of problems and shortcuts for solving them. I’m a software developer in my day to day life and our interviews can be wild. It is a secret handshake between everyone that you know at least enough to risk being hired. I view the JLPT the same, if (in some cases N3, but generally N2) is present on a person they have demonstrated enough effort for be worth talking to.
Going back to software interviews, it can be a complete gamble based on the interviewer. Since you feel you don’t answer fast enough I would practice responding to questions quickly.
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I understand this approach; it makes full sense. For clarification: my advice comes from a language learning point of view, in light of the concept of comprehensible content, which in essence says that for improvement you need to aim for a slightly higher level that you mostly understand but are a bit uncomfortable with (academically uncomfortable, not frustrated or anxious!).
I am very practical person with little time at my hands. If I find something entertaining at my level and at a bit higher level, I will go for the higher one, as it delivers on both accounts - entertainment and improvement.
I think there is an entire life lesson to be learned from JLPT 
This is how the system works, learn the system to conquer it. If you want to pass the JLPT you need to learn Japanese in order to pass the JLPT , not to have a conversation in a maiden cafe, or whatever. The same applies for work, love, society etc. Compared to those, the JLPT is an easy one.
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I feel like at my job they wont sit me down and time me to finish a report or lesson plan.
I don’t know about that.
I feel like quickly scanning large volumes of text and accurately picking out key information would be a part of language competency at work. At least in software where I work we have a lot of specifications and documentation to deal with.
Same goes for quickly dealing with work emails.
Also in daily life, how long would one want to spend parsing every apartment complex notice, every tax letter, every posted instruction at public offices/hospitals and such? There is certainly a timing component to what would be considered proficient for daily life.
つまり, there’s language as a hobby, and language as a tool, and I think JLPT clearly positions itself on the “tool” side.
Personally, I’ve ran out of time on the reading section of N1, and I’m actually quite grateful to the test for giving a reality check and a baseline to aim for.
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Oh of course, and I hope my previous response didn’t come across poorly! With something like self-learning a language - especially since many of us are likely adults with busy lives and responsibilities - one of the hardest parts is balancing our available time and resources versus the results we want. Luckily, Japanese is a popular enough language that there’s a whole spread of materials for folks to use at their own best pace 
To comment on the conversation re: timing… Honestly, I can see arguments for both sides of it.
There are definitely situations where you might need to be able to read and process something quickly - instructions, directions, things for work, etc. Taking a half an hour to read something that would take a native 5 minutes arguably isn’t “fluency” (although of course it’s important to think about what you consider fluency, since not everyone has the same goals).
However, that’s also a skill that varies regardless of what language it’s done in. The pace at which you read and absorb a passage is even likely to depend on the topic - personally, I’d get through a stretch of high fantasy world building in English a lot faster than an article on current socio-economic trends or something similar.
A native English speaker isn’t less fluent in English just because they take longer to read x article, right? Reading comprehension is a separate skill, and we even teach it as such! So in that sense putting a timer on a language test feels a little silly, because it winds up not being a test of just your Japanese abilities but also your other comprehension abilities.
But then that wraps right back around into the fact that the JLPT, ultimately, is a standardized testing format. They have to pick some way to measure our “proficiency,” and there’s almost always going to be drawbacks. In the end we just have to do our best to be proficient in the JLPT as well as in Japanese and keep in mind that there’s a difference between what the test genuinely measures and our real 能力.
Honestly I use it as a benchmark and an external motivational deadline more than anything.
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A native speaker can still be illiterate, even if fluent in spoken conversation. Speaking from the perspective of the United States, millions of native adults read at or below a basic proficiency level(https://usareads.org/the-literacy-crisis-in-america/).
Tests like the JLPT or SAT are designed to measure whether a person can process information at a specific skill level within a set timeframe. If a test taker, whether a native speaker or not, fails to read a text designed for their target skill level within the allotted time, it demonstrates that their reading proficiency at that level is lacking. It isn’t a failure of the test; it’s an accurate reflection of their current reading ability.
If I read a graded reader for N5 I can blaze through it, if I read an N2 text, it takes time to figure everything out.
edit:
of course becoming familiar with the testing style helps with results. I previously practiced in order to hit N3. I think the solution is either to get better at reading or get better at the reading test.
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Thank you for your input @ka5. Yeah…in the end I just need to improve and do a lot more practice. I can do it and I agree it will take time to complete or get to a comfortable level.
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One of the reasons that the Bunpro practice tests are 70% overall pass and 40% minimum for each section is that the real JLPT is graded on a curve. The curve is based on item response theory, which is a general method to determine which are the difficult questions in an exam, and which are the easy questions in an exam, and give more points for the difficult questions and less points for the easy questions. What this means in the end is that even if you get at least 20/60 questions correct in each section of the N2, and 90/180 questions correct overall, you have no idea if you will pass or not pass, after the IRT method has been applied.
So, in general, you want to aim to get 80% overall and at least 50% in each section during practice exams. Also, you want the practice exams to mimic the real test conditions as much as possible. This means, for example, never replaying the audio for a given question when taking a listening practice exam. You might be tempted to seek back and replay a question in order to get some extra time to understand, but you have to completely resist that urge.
This also means that when you are doing the 模擬試験 in the Shin Kanzen master books you have to do them with a paper and pencil and a timer, and not look at anything other than the book and your paper and pencil until the timer is finished, and then grade yourself strictly based on what you were able to accomplish during that time. If you start scrolling on your phone, or looking up definitions of words while taking the mock, then you have “wasted” the book in my opinion. Casual practice is what the rest of the book is for.
My advice to you is to take a full practice exam as soon as possible (truly set aside 3 hours for yourself in a quiet room somwhere). Do the practice exam under strict exam conditions. If you don’t get at least 80% overall and 50% in each section then you have work to do. (well, you know that you have work to do, but my guess is that you should try a full practice exam with a new mindset)
You mentioned that you are hesitant to read “real” news articles. This is a big hint to you. You need to face your fears. You need to read news articles, no matter long it takes you to look up each word. My recommendation would be to pick a single article, read it by looking up every word and every grammar point, and then read it again. Then read it again the next day, until you can read it at a normal speaking pace.
You might also get some value out of studying more grammar using bunpro (doing all the grammar points from N5 through N2). I recently switched from cloze cards to reading full sentence only cards, which massively sped up my reviews. It’s also better reading practice, since there is no english (or furigana, it’s best to turn off the furigana) on the front of the card.
I started studying Japanese in early 2024, and I’m currently at a similar level as you (80/190 on the July N2). According to my Anki stats I currently know 2805 words (although I know that I know at least ~500 more than that based on words that I use), and according to an Anki plugin I can read around 800 kanji. I also have 330 grammar points on bunpro left to finish all of N5 through N2, and I have a plan to take four full practice exams before the next exam. I have a concrete study plan to raise my Anki vocabulary to 6000, my kanji to 1100, complete N5-N2 on bunpro, and take four practice exams before the test. It seems like this will take me an average of about 3.5 hours of study per day. Not sure how useful this last paragraph is to you, but if you recent intense study period was 3 hours per day, maybe you need more measurement, and increase it to 3.5 or 4 hours per day. I have a full time job, but no kids or other major obligations right now and 3.5 hours per day seems just about the limit of what is feasible for the next 90 days.
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I think, frankly, for people with goals reliant on the JLPT, there is no reason to aim lower just because you’re more likely to pass if that’s not going to benefit you. The only thing that N3 gives is rough ability to do バイト level work, but sticking with N2 as a goal is completely fine if that’s the only JLPT result that would matter for you. So, I think its completely fine and reasonable for you to stick to your guns and keep studying for N2+, if that is actually a more meaningful goal for you. You’re getting closer, so you’re definitely going to get there.
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Thank you so much for this response. Its written well and very thoughtful. Thank you again for taking the time to write it. 
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