SO many people in my test got disqualified for using their phones. They just ripped into their envelopes the moment the break started- they didn’t even listen at all. I feel bad for them but man, why are people so awful about following instructions during the test??
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Theyve just gotten what they deserve I suppose. If a person not taking the test rules seriously, he/she should not get the certifications.
thats the thing tho, I feel like people often violate the rules and it’s basically up to whether your proctor has the energy to red card them or not…
The brown envelope system was seriously botched in my room. They told everyone to put their phones in the envelope and everyone complied but they neglected to check if anyone had actually sealed their envelope. Come break time, everyone that hadn’t sealed their envelope just whipped their phones out and left the room. Of course, the blame is entirely on the invigilators, who didn’t make it clear they needed to seal the envelope, and then didn’t check people had actually sealed it. So the most they could say to anyone was ダメですよ！Anyone who had an open envelope was told to put their phones into a brand new envelope. The hilarious part? They checked to see if the envelopes were sealed AT THE END OF THE EXAM. Of course some people still hadn’t sealed their envelopes so the invigilators had no idea what to do. I am pretty sure every one in the room was dying of laughter inside. Oh yeah, and the test answers appeared online in less than a few hours anyway.
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I’m pretty sure you used to be allowed to use your phone during the breaks, so maybe that’s why? 
Or at least people used to do it openly without consequences
But it looks like there’s no phone use allowed from the start of the first paper until the end of the last paper now.
Oh, when I took the test this morning, we have to place all of our phones, smartwatches, and everything else that it is not used in the test progress outside of the exam room entirely. We cannot even go to the bathroom at the break two people at a time, everyone takes their turns.
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Wow, it seems that the test conditions are getting stricter!
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Not gonna lie, I don’t actually feel that great about how I did. Pretty sure I got 100% on the kanji/vocab, I also did on the Bunpro mock tests. I didn’t brush up on N3 grammar, and definitely should have done a cram review session or two. Dunno why I didn’t. But I probably still passed the grammar/reading.
But the listening… My gf doesn’t speak English, and I hang out with her family all the time, and even their conversations with each other, at full-speed I basically always understand… but for some reason, the JLPT listening tests I just go “what the heck did they just say?” almost every question. Whenever I look at YouTube “JLPT N_ listening practice”, they’re always just speaking super slow and it isn’t good practice at all. So, before heading to the test today I just put on a Japanese politician conference and listened to that. Just kinda at a loss on what to do to “practice listening” for the JLPT, since it feels like a separate skill entirely from “real life listening”. If anyone has any suggestions for this specific issue, I’d love the advice for when I’m preparing for the N1.
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Oh man, I don’t know if I am qualified to say this, but I’ve also taken N2 today as well, and I am fairly confident about the listening part of it. However, I have NO IDEA (well, mostly) what they were saying as well. But JLPT listening is more of a “conjunction” and “intonation” check rather than “everyday speech”. For example, in Mondai 1, it is usually provide information with correct order as in the exam sheet and mostly the question is about “what is the first thing a person has to do”; all you have to do is listen to the cue "最初、まず、すぐに、。。。“ and then check what current answers are being mentioned. And I dare say that it is 80%+ correct.
For intonation, you really need to guess if people agree/disagree with what was previously said. For example, Mondai 5 of N2 usually contain a speech between a boss and two employees, and also the answers will (mostly) be given with the correct order. You need to guess what “the boss” agree with (mostly with longer response as well), and check what choices you’re currently in, that should be the answer. Sometime “the boss” will give what is a quick agree such as “なるほど、確かに” and then move on quickly, but he (probably) will come back to this point and agree with it.
What I present here IS what I learn through trick videos in Youtube, also, if you pay attention, listening workbooks (I dont know about every book, but I do Soumatomei and Shinkanzen) DO dedicate a really good chunk of the book to train for skill like this. 
All in all, JLPT is a more of a pattern recognition…
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Slept horribly last night in my hotel room, hopefully that doesn’t mess too much with my performance today. 5 hours to go!
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Good luck to you and everyone who’s getting ready to take the JLPT this time 
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Time for that epic journey from Brooklyn to north Bronx. See all you New Yorkers there 
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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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