This is exactly how I feel. How long did it take for you to go from N5 to N1? Just out of curiosity.
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Note that the numbers above are cumulative totals. For example, to reach JLPT N2, you need about 1,500–2,200 hours total, not just 1,000 hours after passing N3. If you have already passed N4 and are aiming for N3, you’d need around 250–400 more hours, depending on your level.
Looks like Kanji knowledge (or lack thereof) can cut the total in half or double it. This would lend serious credence to the Tofugu method of learning ~300 Kanji/1000ish vocab before seriously starting grammar.
N1 in 4000 hours seems reasonable - essentially, full time job for 2 years with the first year spent learning N5 to N2. I passed N2 after 4 years at somewhere between 10-20hrs / week of study, but my speech and listening are still somewhat lagging behind as one might expect.
Seen a lot of people try and fail. If you know Chinese and Korean beforehand, I’d guess it’d be very possible to get entirely in a year, but even still, access to natives is what would likely stunt your growth.
If we go by the above numbers, those starting from nothing would need an iron will, study 8 hours weekdays, 20+ on weekends and a much higher than normal retention rate for all the new material along with virtually no time spent on pedagogy or learning methods (i.e. a just “trust bunpro and go” kind of method - a lot of time spent is just figuring out how to spend time otherwise!)
That being said, passing the test is a much lower bar to pass than comprehending the material. The listening section of the JLPT can very much be passed by process of elimination and vibes if you study the question types.
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It’s a bit hard to measure 
I started learning Japanese in 2009 but wasn’t very serious about it (just did pimsleur and learned some random kanji for the first year). In 2010 I actually started learning properly with genki but only found out about the jlpt end of 2011. I then passed the n4 in dec 2012, n3 in dec 2013 and n2 on dec 2014. Then due to having kids and moving to the usa, I took a 10 year break studying (sporadically studying very little during this time) and got back to it in 2024. Passed the n2 again in dec 2024 and then failed the n1 in dec 2025.
I guess it took me around 5 years of studying (or 4 years of more seriously studying) to get from zero to n2. Even when I was seriously studying though this was in parallel to a full time job so probably my average study time was around 1 hour per day
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Wow, congrats! That’s amazing that you still remembered a lot after a 10 year break.
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LETS GO! I dont have to travel to Philidelphia anymore!! I can finally just drive there and then drive back and not have to make it a big trek lol
Our brains are quite flexible! The neural networks we make in language learning weaken, but relearning is much easier than learning from scratch - I hope this is a point of encouragement to anyone who feels like they’ve forgotten a language
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Yeah, I’ve taken two 7 year long breaks from Japanese, and while I did “start from scratch” each time I restarted, I was able to get back to the level I was before quite quickly compared to how long it took the previous time.
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Sorry that this isn’t related to this thread, but I remember people talking about D.Grayman and figured I had to share for people living in Japan:
@Ayara012 I think you’re into D.Grayman too if I remember correctly?
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d gray man… so nostalgic
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Very late to the party here, but passed JLPT N2! Barely, but passed! Bunpro has been a great help along the way. Thinking of getting up to N1, but no earlier than end of 2027.
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HI YES I SURE AM
I will be investigating this…thoroughly…
I am always down to be notified about anime goods, literally always, my impulse control is nearly nonexistent
Thanks so much for the heads up!
(Sorry for off-topic!)
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NOOOOOOOO! I didn’t see this until now and missed the deadline 
Not only is Allen my favorite character, but he’s also depicted as my zodiac sign??? I may never recover…
Ugh, I didn’t even see the deadline at first.
…Might just have to hunt through mercari or surugaya or something, perhaps…
I got my certificate and paper copy of my results in the post the other day. Did the results always have the percentile on them?
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I think the percentile is shown when you take the test outside Japan.