Passed N5~. I’m studying in Japan right now and finished N4 at school- but I want to collect them all. Sadly returning to the US soon so will have to either do 1 a year or travel to take a July test. If I don’t I should be at N3 or maybe N2 by the time I’m taking the N4 haha- but that also means it won’t be stressful.
10 Likes
I passed N5 and am fairly surprised - I’m even /more/ surprised that I got 56/60 on listening - that there is some multiple choice bubble good luck if I ever saw, because the listening was insanely hard for me and I had definitely guessed a couple, and had low confidence on several. I did surprisingly bad for vocab and grammar - not that I’m surprised from the test, I had just gone into the test thinking I’d do great and the test kicked my booty hahaha
Mostly posting my experience to give a public THANK YOU for the birthday girl in our test room who passed out good-luck kit-kats during break - I’m fairly certain I passed thanks to you so if somehow you see this thank you x1000 xD
I’m behind on my studies but I’m doing N4 in December! This year I /have/ to get my listening practice situated or I’m for sure doomed~
14 Likes
Failed my N1. Score was pretty bad:
Overall: 69/180
Language Knowledge: 27/60
Reading: 21/60
Listening: 21/60
In all my practice exams I managed to pass but was pretty borderline. In the exam itself I was super stressed (and in the listening section I felt like I’m basically just guessing everything) so I’m not surprised with this score.
I do plan to take the N1 again, but this year, I want to focus much more on immersion and doing fun things in Japanese like reading and watching TV shows and much less on targeted exam studying.
16 Likes
I dont think that’s too bad at all!
You passed all the sectionals, just need a little push to get over the line.
I hope you get to enjoy lots of media this year 
6 Likes
Failed the N4, 58/22. Got an A for both vocab and reading, and a B for grammar. Slightly disappointed, but at least passed all the sectionals, just not overall. I clearly need to work more on my grammar and listening skills. Where I am the exam is only offered in December, so I reckon next December will try for the N3. Or N4 again? Not sure what would be the wiser.
6 Likes
Thanks! I have the opposite problem. I have a hard time understanding audio without any context (if there’s no visuals). Often I realize which kanji (vocab) it was, if there’s a transcript, and feel disappointed that I didn’t recognize it fast enough to keep up with the rest of the audio.
Doubling down this year on as much listening as my schedule permits though.
6 Likes
i did so much better than i thought, got full marks on listening for n2! 56/60 for grammar and managed to pass the reading despite missing the last 4 questions bc i wasted too much time double checking my grammar questions argh. still made the b2 bracket so i’m happy.
this was the first time i took the test and unfortunately i got a false sense of security from the practice tests in terms of time allocation. takes longer when you have to manually fill in the questions rather than just click an answer. also the passages were a bit longer than the practice ones.
aiming to take the n1 maybe december 2027.
10 Likes
Passed N3, pretty happy with that as I walked away from the test very unsure with myself. Not the greatest scores across the categories but enough to cross into the B1 CEFL territory, for whatever that’s worth. All and all I feel proud, as I really just picked up studying at the end of Aug 2025, with a large gap before that, so happy the effort is showing some progress.
Finger’s crossed I can devote myself this year and take/pass N2 in Dec
12 Likes
Inscriptions open in late August/early september then? I think you should try a N3 practice test a bit before and decide then, taking into account that you will progress again a little bit before the exam. But if you REALLY need a diploma for something, take N4 again to be more or less certain to get something
If you scored that well on N2, I think you would have no problem with N1 this December, if you so desired!
1 Like
That’s me, too! I’m honestly such a visual person - something I hadn’t fully appreciated until language learning lol
It’s also so easy for me to get hung up on a certain word - I mull it over and see if I can figure it out. Whether I can or not hardly matters because now I’m lost on everything that came after. Listening is a huge hurdle for me (I always have to give the caveat that I’m a great listener…in English hahaha I just really struggle with it in Japanese)
I think the main thing for me is trying to find time to allocate to active listening practice - I have so much commute time, but putting on simple podcasts only goes so far in practice for me. If it’s too difficult I accidentally space out, if it’s too easy I’m not sure I’m learning anything. But without being about to check transcripts, or continuously rewind and re-listen when I need to (as I am meant to be focusing on the road), I’m not sure it’s actually getting me anywhere…I think I need study time where I am trying to write a transcript and/or translation as I listen, and then check myself on actual transcripts. But when will I find the time 
2 Likes
That’s me exactly. 
2 Likes
I’m a bit late announcing it, but I passed the December N4! 
Back in December, right after the exam, I posted in this thread about how there had been a weird big irregularity during the exam. We ended up not doing about 1/3rd of the listening section.
Here’s my result. The listening score is a bit on the low side.
Today I received an email from the test site that the unanswered questions have indeed been marked wrong. Everyone is now presented with two options. Either we accept the results as they are now, or we get a refund and the results are voided.
I consider this a total disgrace on the Japan Foundation’s part. Every country other than Japan would have sent the audio file via the internet the moment the exam site contacted them about the issue. Instead, we get this (easily avoidable) situation where it’s entirely possible that a number of participants failed their exams and have no choice but to accept it. The sheer lack of professionalism displayed by the Japan Foundation here astounds me.
As for me, I’m pleased for having passed the exam, but the low listening score does put a bit of a damper on the delight.
20 Likes
My first JLPT experience was pretty unstressful, which was nice. Just checked and I passed the N5. Not sure what the averages seem to be but I got a 137/180 (89/120 for Knowledge and 48/60 for Listening) with As for all sections.
If I take N4 I might do the same thing where I make a trip out of it, I took the test in DC since it was the closest one for me and I got there the Thursday before so in case I failed it was only a waste of 3 hours of a 4 day trip.
Glad to know studying with a full-time job I can still make progress, however slow.
8 Likes
Charlotte is getting a site no way! That’s so awesome! I also made the trip to DC in the snow, which was fun in its own way since everything was much more empty than usual.
Passed N4 this time! I failed last year so very happy with this result. Going to attempt N3 in July (knowing I will likely fail - but that’s not really the point for me).
18 Likes
I would be livid - I had to buy plane tickets and a hotel to take my exam! Refunding the exam fee itself is peanuts in comparison, not to mention the time commitments. Mistakes can happen, but they need to be prepared for how to resolve stuff like that. I’m just imagining how if this was N2/N1 and people needed it for university admission / visas / etc, how screwed they would be.
Congrats on doing well enough to compensate for that!
3 Likes
WHAT?! That’s actually close-ish to me! Oh man, I might actually seriously consider taking the test if that’s the case!
(And congrats on the N3 pass!)
1 Like
You’re absolutely right, of course. I, too, travelled abroad and booked a hotel in order to take the exam. If it had been the N2 or N1 and if I had failed due to the listening section, I think I’d even consider having a lawyer write a fat claim, even if it’s just to give them a good scare.
Thank you very much for your kind words!
3 Likes
Late to the party here, but I passed the N3 (by the skin of my teeth). Going out to celebrate/commiserate on Saturday with some of the local ALTs who also took the JLPT.
Both Bunpro and Wanikani had a lot to do with my success. The biggest surprise for me, though, was that I walked out of that test thinking I had nailed the vocabulary/kanji section and absolutely bombed the listening section, but listening ended up being my highest score by quite a bit.
11 Likes