N5 done in London!
I think I got a great score, better than any of my mock exams.
It was quite easy going, but I’m glad I did it anyway instead of skipping to N4. I know the format and process now.
Hope you all do well!
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My vocab game is usually pretty strong, but I didn’t know many words this time. Grammar was rough as well. The reading itself was not too difficult. However, even after understanding the actual text I struggled with the questions. Listening was okay. For the most part. The 即答問題 was awful.
As with any JLPT, the constant curve balls they throw at you in the listening is quite annoying.
Let’s do A. Yes, A is good. Hmhmh, I also like B though. Yes, B is good, too, but what about C? Yes, we should really do C. Haven’t done C in a long time. Ah, but we actually can’t do C because C is not possible. You’re right. Then it’s decided. We’ll do the second thing we thought that was good. What about D though? No, D is for losers.
Bruh, who talks like that?
To summarize: see you in December I guess.
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I agree with the 文法 comment, but I also thought the 語彙 was pretty tough too. 逆に I found the reading section to be super forgiving and a little nicer to tackle 
During my listening section some dude’s phone went off and we lost three questions (he got red carded) so that was kind of annoying that they didn’t let us hear the questions again at the end.
That summarizes it great! I was destroyed by the listening section, in grammar didn’t have time to even start the last retrieving info question… apart from that it was great I think! N4, did it in Okayama, can not recommend coming in July at almost 40º…
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Yeah this is definitely one part of why I take my tests in December…
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I was quite shocked that during the audio comprehension some consonants were completely cut off from the audio recording it sounded like a faulty audio record for example テレビ would sound like エレビ, I understood most of the sentence to answer but the difference between the mock exams I took on migii and the real thing was quite stressful… This and having to wait 30mn between every part of the exam, and not being able to start with the grammar part to keep the easy vocabulary for the end… urgh I was more tired after this 5 hour overstretched jlpt session than after my mechanical engineering final exams, was it the same in your country (3x30mn pauses + doubtful audio recording?)
They also made me remove my Casio watch (from 1990’s) because the thought it was a smart watch, good thing I practiced without the help of a watch but for N2 in the future I would like to practice while timing myself between each sections
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That’s really unfair! In my exam they replayed two of the questions, after finishing at the end, just because one guy dropped a pencil during one of them.
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N4 in london, I hope I’ve scraped a pass… if I have it won’t be on the strength of my listening 
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Ahh the old pencil dropping strat when you missed a question
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Oh, I made N5, (Madrid) the listening was good. They had a clock on a screen (and on the right side wall there also was a clock)
The weather outside was hot as hell, but on the class the air conditioner was on so it had a very nice temperature)
The only problem is that i didn’t get most of the listening, so I’m not sure if I will pass.
On July I didn’t knew if I would pass (but i was confident i wouldn’t fail on the listening, even it wasn’t great) I had 50/120 and 24 / 60. My grammar and reading section were terrible.
This time I’m confident that the sum of my vocabulary, grammar and reading will be much closer to 100, and it would surprise me highly if it didn’t reach 61 (the minimun to pass the test with the 19 points mandatory on listening to pass) but I could end with a 80-90 on the first part and 15 on listening… and a fail.
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I guess it just depends on what kind of proctor you get eh? I did it in Hiroshima and they were very unforgiving
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I only failed by 3 points when I did the test in December, so I retried it this time and the difference in strictness was massive.
In December a lot of people in my room got red-carded for coming late after breaks (even though the breaks were shorter than they were supposed to be since the test was running late). This year, people were still being allowed back in after the practice listening question had finished.
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That’s crazy, here in Brazil the instructors in my room clearly stated that the audio would not be replayed under any circumstance, they even used the dropped pencil as an example.
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So, I took the N3 this July in São Paulo, I think for the first time I left the test with the feeling that I passed, when I took the N5 and the N4 I left the exam room feeling like a maybe at best, so it was a nice feeling, even though I didn’t read as much as I wanted, I still increased my reading by a lot (Thanks Satori Reader) and also did a lot of listening practice with those japanese romantic dramas on Netflix haha, they are very good for listening practice.
One other thing that helped with being confident on the exam day was doing a mock exam one day earlier from the actual exam. It was good not only because I got a good score and because of that I felt more confident throughout the test, but also because it showed me the weakest spots that I needed to pay attention to during the actual test. For example, I spent a lotttt of time during the reading section on the mock exam, and I realized that I was running out of time, so on the actual exam day I made an effort to do some extra focus and to not let my mind wander off during the reading section.
Here’s the result of my mock test, hopefully the result of the actual test will be as good as this. Good luck to everyone that took the exam!
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It’s really frustrating when you watch news and Japanese media etc every day get by just fine, but then when it comes to the JLPT listening test someone starts talking about organizing an event or what they’ll eat for dinner and you’re just like “WTF did I just listen to?” LOL. Seriously, the only difference between 90% of the answers is whether or not you caught the right ですが for the answer, or when they just ever so subtly change the subject to talk about the thing you need to know.
I used to think the reading section was the hardest, but at least with the reading you can go back and check the information and really make sure. The main challenge being the time limit you have. With the listening you only get one chance and if you missed that key piece of information you are really just guessing.
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The worst part is that the audio comprehension is at the very end of the exam when you’re the most exhausted and more likely to be caught off guard. Next time I’ll make sure to bring energy drinks with me to avoid any brain fogs during the audio comprehension part lmao.
It’s crazy how the JLPT is only preparing you to get better at the JLPT instead of actually making you better at japanese.
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The N2 exam was fun like always haha… Some parts were hard … will see… happy that I went
Well there is always December
That’s one of my biggest gripes with the test. Thankfully most employers in Japan really only care about how well you can actually communicate in Japanese, so listening and speaking are the biggest assets 
Yeah, a whole load of the listening questions are basically the same thing but with different contexts, e.g.
Question 1 (Preparing for a party)
F: We need to prepare the snacks for the party.
M: I already did it.
F: Thank you. Then we can start preparing the drinks.
M: Ethel is going to do that, so don’t worry about it.
F: Why don’t you prepare the music for the party, and I’ll prepare the quiz questions?
M: OK, let’s do that.
What does the man need to prepare next?
- Snacks 2. Drinks 3. Music 4. Quiz questions
Question 2 (Preparing for a meeting)
M: We need to prepare the sales reports for the meeting.
F: I already did it.
M: Thank you. Then we can start doing the photocopying.
F: My colleague said they will do it, but I could help.
M: There’s no need. Why don’t you buy the bottled water for the meeting, and I’ll make the presentation slides?
F: OK. When I finish, I’ll help you with the slides.
What does the woman need to prepare next?
- The sales reports 2. Photocopies 3. Bottled water 4. Presentation slides
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Out of all real life conversations that never happened, this conversation never happened the most .
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