Hi, this is my first n4 mock test
I’ll take july jlpt n4 and I got scared about whether I am able to or not. Do you think it is hard to turn success atp because I even struggled with the questions I answered correctly. Listening was really hard for me.
i also got around the same for my first n5 jlpt mock lmao - i dont think its that bad, but if you’re struggling with listening, i recommend watching anime (although from your profile picture i see you’ve at least heard of kaiju no.8) or listening to podcasts or even the nhk easy news. it helps you get used to the sounds as well as the sentence structures!
Passing mark on Bunpro is 40% for each section and 70% in total. If I’m correct, they did this to manage expectations since you will never know exactly what vocab and grammer you will get on the actual test.
The real JLPT usually has a lower passing mark - if this was a real test you would have probably passed!
EDIT: For N5 & N4, the passing mark for each sections is 32% and overall passing mark is 50% according to the official website.
About the passing marks for the JLPT: According to the website, they don’t just count the number of questions you answer correctly. They don’t go off percentages at all. Instead, they look at the total pattern of your answers to get the score. It’s true that the passing mark for N5 and N4 is 32% of the highest possible mark (19)—but according to their documentation, two people could both get a score of 19 while answering a different number of questions correctly, depending on which questions they answered correctly.
So it’s not really possible to name a strict percentage that you have to get right in order to pass.
I find this rather opaque. But nevertheless, it sounds unlikely to me that you’d fail if you got 60% of the questions correct!
The JLPT is hard. I can’t attest to Bunpro’s mock tests, but typically 40-60% of people pass the JLPT. It took me 5 tries to pass JLPT N2, and I was only 12 marks off the pass mark the first time I attempted.
Given your scores your listening was actually good, but were pulled down by grammar/reading. Your vocab is particularly strong which is a good foundation.
Grammar is a large part of the exam, so is reading. I’d probably focus intently on those, especially reading if time was a constraint on your exam. For grammar, identify your weak points and focus on cramming those.
Take more tests and familiarise yourself with the pacing, what you struggle at and so on.
According to the JLPT site, for July 2025 the pass rate was under 40% for every level except N5. N5 was about 50%. It really does seem to be a hard test.
It’s not bad, you did not reach the passing grade on this mock test. Period. Don’t frame it emotionally, that will only backfire.
Continue learning. Depending on what resources you use, calculate how much learning you need to do daily to complete it before the exam and continue (for example if you do N5/ N4 level grammar, vocabulary). General learning, like listening to podcasts, reading, continue as usual.
Leave the mock tests for now, restart once you finished what you wanted before the exam. If there will be no such point, aka you do not finish grammar, etc, don’t panic. C’est la vie.
Start mock exams max 4 weeks before exam, otherwise you will burn out. You have to be familiar with the test structure, so even if you did not finish what you wanted, you need to do mock exams before the actual exam.
Don’t listen to people who say the JLPT is hard and build up some scary ethos around it. Other people passed it, you can pass it too.
Edit: consider your goals in light of the JLPT. Why do you learn Japanese? Do you want to watch anime in original without subtitles? Do you want to speak Japanese with your Japanese friends? Do you want to travel to Japan? Read manga? Read Murakami Haruki in original? Write a fan letter to your favorite Japanese artist? Watch your favorite vlog in original?
Do you need the JLPT to do these? Nope.