JLPT December 2023

Japanese
#283

I took the N3. I feel like I did so good on the first two sections that I’m 50% sure that those alone will will bring me up to 95, but I will be lucky if I passed the listening section. I’ll have to see if listening to podcasts while driving or exercising since march were just barely enough, but nonetheless it was uncomfortable how bad I felt like I was doing. I need a more structured approach to listening that I can do while commuting that isn’t just a random podcast.

This was also my first time taking the JLPT so we’ll see how good a first-timer’s guess is.

6 Likes
#284

the irony is that i passed N3 2022 because i did well at listening, but failed miserably at reading. i would get quite the laugh if its vice versa this year with n2.

3 Likes
#285

I took the N4 at SOAS. It was super late getting started because the door jammed or something and we got trapped in the room. I feel like they should take pity and give us extra marks for “hostage taking” levels of stress!

I am with everyone who took the N4 and said reading was super hard and or they were left with no time. I feel like the kanji/vocab and listening were easier than usual so I can probably afford to tank one of grammar or reading but not both and I can’t really remember how I did on grammar since it was a blur of rushing through picking particles trying to have enough time for reading which I still didn’t! Pray for me that they will somehow give us extra marks for reading if most people do badly but not take them away from vocab and listening if most people do well!

5 Likes
#286

@kateperris Haha! We were in the same room then. And you probably would have gone past me as I was sat right by the door.
Compared to the mock exams I did, I thought vocab was about the same, the grammar/reading a touch more difficult( made it more difficult for myself by having a mid-exam panic), and actually I thought the listening one was about the same if not easier than the mock-exams, but for me still super hard and the last 3 or 4 were complete guesses.

#287

Same SOAS is a lovely place but god travelling back home after the exam in the epitome of December London was just miserable. Glad to be home now.

I sat the N5, noticed a couple of grammar points that are “N4” (even though N4 and N5 grammar points blur lines frequently) and I feel pretty dejected after the listening section. Let’s see how it goes in January.

4 Likes
#288

The train strikes really didn’t help either lol

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#289

Shoutout to my 208/209 crew! I was wearing a panda jumper did you see me? I am with you on the assessment of the exam difficulty. The listening one where you had no visual clue was relatively hard because I was trying to write down everything to choose and it was hard to choose before the next question started.

2 Likes
#290

The shamble of a queue into the SOAS building was a giggle.

I had done quite a few practice test in the run up but found this N2 test supper hard. Very nervous about the results, internally my despondent half is wrestling with my motivated side, we’ll see who wins! Any other N2 Londoners on the forum?

4 Likes
#291

This is my first time I took the JLPT exam and I must say that the listening part totally destroyed me. I am not really sure what to do in the long run. I feel like I need more immersion or found media with a harder level to practice.

2 Likes
#292

Kinda a dumb question, but I realized that for the vocab section, I didn’t put my name in block letters like it asked. Do you think it matters or does it not affect grading? I just would feel dumb for wasting my time taking the test if they wouldn’t grade it anyway

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#293

OH! Also this time there was an UNCOVERED CLOCK!!!

The shame!

#294

Was it on the front of the question booklet? That’s the only place you wrote your name, right? If so, don’t worry at all - probably nobody will notice or pay it the slightest bit of attention :smiley:
The only thing that really matters once you’ve left the room is how you filled in the blobs on the answer sheets that the computer will mark :+1:

2 Likes
#295

I feel this so much. I ran out of time a bit on grammar and had to guess but the N2 listening just made me want to curl up into a ball and disappear.

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#296

The guy at the front just putting people into the shortest line then people finding out they were in the complete wrong queue was brilliant work :joy:

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#297

Did anyone else face huge trouble getting to the London exam? I was so confident about my revision this time and planned my travel hours in advance because of the trains, but got stuck in every single road closure London had to offer for over 2 hours and ended up running into the exam hall as the last person there only 5 minutes before the exam started. I did okay on the N3 vocab paper, but by the time I hit the listening I was feeling awful so I doubt I’ve passed. Hopefully nobody else had a similar experience!

2 Likes
#298

Catching a train anywhere in the UK on sunday seems problematic so I’d booked the coach far in advance. The limited timetable meant I arrived in london around 10:15 so I had the opposite problem of trying to kill time, discovering that most places didn’t open until 12. I was worried the cold snap and the train strike would combine to make the roads into London blocked, but didn’t happen.

Your story reminds me of my final ‘finals’ exam where I was a bit too relaxed for my own good, chilling on the couch playing on playstation 1 that we’d rented from blockbuster (that ages me a bit doesn’t it!), and realising the exam started in 15 minutes, when I was a 25 minute walk from the exam hall. I dramatically burst into the room like it was the end of some rom-com movie and I was going to steal the bride away.

5 Likes
#299

Completely unrelated to the JLPT, but I had this exact experience last week with a chess tournament. If you’re more than one hour too late for your match it gets ff’ed, and due to train issues I had 5 minutes to get from the station to the playing venue.
I cycled there like a madman, when I got there I just threw down my bicycle in the front of the venue, rushed in and made my move wth like 50 secs or so remaining on the clock.

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#300

楽勝ーー

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#301

I checked the train strikes and GWR were supposed to be striking on Tuesday (today) but Sunday was fine. Got to the train station to find every train to London was cancelled, checked my emails and there was a message saying “there may be disruptions to your journey” from 4:12am. “May be” mate, you’ve cancelled every train and not put any replacement buses. Think it’s a bit more than a possibility at that point.

While I was in London I was alright though. Hammersmith and city line was running good when I was on it.

3 Likes
#302

Thank god for the Elizabeth Line as GWR were a mess that Sunday

1 Like