JLPT Listening Speed Weakness

Japanese
#1

I’m getting so discouraged with the listening parts of the JLPT practice tests. Taking N4 in a couple weeks and I’ve been going through the N5 tests first. Grammar, reading, vocab, kanji absolutely no problem: finishing in half the time allotted.

But even though I’ve been practicing listening via podcasts and youtube like 3-4 hours a day (at my level of comprehension) for the past 5 months now, getting even the slowed-down N5 listening questions right with only one chance to hear the whole dialogue still just feels impossible. It’s just too fast. I could get 100% of them right if I could read them or just pause briefly to catch up.

I don’t know what else to do to get better at this specific style of question: where they throw a whole bunch of stuff at you and you only get to hear it once… and some of the questions seem designed to purposefully confuse you.

This message is mostly venting… but also curious if anyone has recommendations for outside practice that’s good.

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#2

I think it helps to look at the 4 answer options before listening to the question and the dialogue. This way you can prepare yourself to parse key words, and also to mark off incorrect options as the dialogue goes on.

In the actual test you will have the test paper in front of you, so you can pre-read it. In Bunpro’s mock tests you can pause the audio first, look at the answer options, mentally prepare, and then listen to the audio once.

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#3

Good advice

#4

The way they speak in the speaking section of the JLPT speaking is unique to the JLPT. It starts becoming very predictable the more you practice.

#5

@casual is absolutely correct. Skim the answers first and eliminate answers as you go. Sometimes, even if you only understood half the passage you can normally eliminate two answers. Then based on context you can make the best decions out of the remaining two.

The very last section of the listening part is where you can really clean up and score easy points. The only problem is… your brain is absolutely cooked at this point, haha. At the N4 level, these are very easy standard responses and there are only 3 answers to pick form instead of the normal 4. One you can eliminate right away and the two others will be close but if you recall the question you should be able to pick the right one. At this point you are going to be ready to throw in the towel and just start guessing becuase its so close to the end of the test, don’t fall victim to this and really lock in that last 5 minutes.

I take the N3 and I am also stressing for the listening section. This is pretty normal, just get as much practice in as you can and just try to relax and get some good sleep in the day before the test. Good luck.

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