Phew N3 reading was pretty brutal, some of the answers where so similar… I just ended up guessing on the last long 4-questions-reading (before the last question type) because I ran out of time…
Kanji/Vocab/Grammer/Listening were ok tho so im not too concerned
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I slept terribly last night, because of nerves probably. The vocab and grammar parts went quite well, they seemed pretty similar to the N4 Bunpro mock tests, however my brain didn’t have enough sleep to go on for the entirety of the listening 🫠 I realized after a few questions of exercise 3 that I was actually writing my answers in exercise 4’s slots instead. Needless to say, it was pretty impossible to correct this AND keep listening at the same time. I might not get a passing grade for listening after this
I also found the N3 to be more difficult than I expected!
My feedback to the Bunpro team would be that the JLPT practice tests are super helpful, but I found myself blowing through the N3 practice tests.
The test today was definitely a lot more difficult… Not sure how to better test for that, but maybe to have some red herring type answers for listening questions, or to include more complex vocabulary?
Either way though it was still very useful for practicing - especially as it’s so difficult to find full length practice tests for N3 and above!
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I found the N1 grammar and vocab to be quite easy this time. However, that section is always quite random. You either know the handful of words and grammar points they ask you about or you don’t. It does not matter if you know thousands of other words.
Reading was alright. The information retrieval question was way to easy. Felt almost N3-esque.
Anyway, I royally messed up listening this time, if the leaks are to be believed. That’s quite disappointing, given that I answered almost all questions of the SKZM mock test and official mock test correctly. The audio was an issue though, as I had little to no trouble to understand and answer the N2 test questions from the neighboring room. Well, doesn’t matter. There’s no perfect audio in the real world either.
See you next July 
They really need to re-work their test. There’s absolutely no reason to only have at most 2 JLPTs a year. Moreover, since it’s seemingly the same all over the world, you can find answers online after the first test location finishes. Irrelevant if you just take test for fun and to gauge your own ability, but a bit wild considering that passing the test gives you points towards a visa fast pass and university application.
I really wish they would overhaul the test and make it less Japanese lol
By “red herring” answers I mean specifically:
In the Bunpro practice tests, it will have something like:
“Where does this kanji fit best?”
- completely wrong
- correct
- completely wrong
- completely wrong
So it ends up being a vocab spot check. In the test today a question would be closer to:
“Where does this kanji fit best?”
- kinda wrong
- correct
- almost correct but not quite
- a simile but different nuance
This is also true for the listening and grammar sections.
I realise that’s a lot of extra work for putting tests together but that’s what I found to be the biggest difference between the Bunpro ones and the real thing!
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Hey everyone, I’m now on the way back from Belgium to The Netherlands. Travelling abroad to take an exam was a pretty exciting experience.
There was a big irregularity in the N4 exam I took and I’m very curious to hear if this was the same for everyone doing N4, or if this was unique to the University of Ghent. At about the 2/3rd point in the listening section, the audio suddenly cut to a question much further down the exam. A significant chunk of audio was missing from the CD. The proctors then went and got their backup CD, but it had the same issue. They were then on the phone with the Japan Foundation for what felt like almost half an hour, after which it was announced that the listening section was to be cut short at the 2/3rd mark and the exam ended there. Now it’s apparently up to the Japan Foundation how to grade the results. Very weird. I have no idea what to expect.
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Can confirm we had the entire N4 listening session here in France (there were some people from Switzerland in my group, you’re not the only traveller it seems 
). I’m really curious as to how this will go as well, surely they won’t grade you on only 2/3rd of your answers ? Will they cut part of the answers for everyone? It this something their mysterious grading algorithm can accommodate for ? 
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I’ve taken plenty of tests in my life, but only ever seen 1 person get disqualified. What on Earth did they do?
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Oh wow what an issue.
Sounds like the foundation didn’t have a backup plan for this case, e.g. a procedure send the test file to the test site over a chat app/file share. And without a pre-approved procedure nobody will risk making such a decision on the spot.
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Hi! I was there as well.
I’ve been searching online but did not find a single instance of this happening before, so that makes me think they don’t have procedures for this.
I’m fearing they will solve it by apologize a lot, refunding the amount but refusing to issue a test score - really hoping I’m wrong here.
Very curious if anyone encountered a similar situation in the past.
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Oh, how cool to hear from somebody else who was there. 
D’you reckon they’d do that? That would suck. I’d even prefer to have all unanswered questions just marked plain wrong over not being issued a score.
About to start my test, good luck everyone!
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I agree! I think I have a good chance to pass even with a 0 on the remaining questions.
Otherwise I guess I’ll try for N4 again in Leuven in July.
How did you do other than this unfortunate situation?
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Yeah I’m really scared about the combined vocab+grammar/reading section on the N2… 1h45m without a toilet break seems hellish since I usually drink a lot.
Drinking was allowed here during the exam, I asked if bottles on the table are ok (since the instructions said only pencils/eraser/sharpener) and they just checked that no notes were written on any bottles.
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Glad to hear it! I feel good about my test too. Do post again once the results are up in March!
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wait a minute, MARCH?
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They probably meant the official letter. It should be up in late January online.
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Ope.
didn’t know that lol
I’m always clueless.
Then January it is.
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That’s what the 6(?) digit code is for that you had to choose when registering 
with that code you can access the online results in late January.
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3 people got disqualified last year because their phones made some sort of noise during the test.