JLPT N3 this December from N4

[ariffrro]

Hi everyone! I am wondering whether I should take N3 this December. For your information, these are my current progress:

Kanji:
Wanikani Level 18 (I am aiming to finish around level 25~30 before the JLPT). I read from the wanikani forum that these levels are sufficient to pass N3.

Grammar:
I have passed and finished N5 (I used Minna no Nihongo 1). Already “gone through” (not remembering quite well yet ) all the grammar points from Minna no Nihongo 2. I should say that I can pass N4 in grammar but might not excel in it.

So, this is the point where I decided to start Bunpro, to retain the grammar point inside my head. I decided to use Bunpro for the rest of N3 with the supplement from Quartet 1 textbook. Is it sufficient and realistic?

Vocabulary:
Memorized all MNN1 vocab but still working on MNN2 (around half of it) + vocab from wanikani. Might be memorizing vocab from Quartet 1 later.

Listening:
I don’t have any specific drill but I do watch Japanese vlogs and have Japanese friends that I talk to occasionally. If any of you have recommendations for N3 please share them here.

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I am asking this question because registration in my country starts in August. So, I want to know whether I should spend the money (registration fee) on something that I can pass or not. I would say that my current level is mid-N4 and I am targeting mid-N3. Thank you!

[qazrt]

I’m in the same boat. I’ll following this thread

[Peihua]

Hello I recently took N3 so thought that maybe I could share something!

With regards to Kanji and Vocab, I’m on WaniKani level 40 and this is how my JLPT progress looks according to WK (it says I’ve unlocked majority of the words from N3).

However, WaniKani progress isn’t built around JLPT (instead it shows you words that use the radicals you’ve already learnt, even though they could be words that aren’t needed for the JLPT).

If you want to feel a bit more confident about the exam, I recommend reviewing the N3 vocab deck in Bunpro too! Even if you don’t add all of them to your reviews, you can just mark the ones you know as mastered, or even just glance through the meanings quickly without adding them to your review pile at all. I only started this a few days before the exam so it was quite an awful rush and I don’t recall if I finished it, but I was glad I did because there were items in the deck I didn’t know from WK yet, and they actually appeared on the exam and had a direct impact on the answer to the question. If I hadn’t read that deck I may have just had to make some random guesses

If you want to sit the exam in December, you have plenty of time to do this at leisure!

That said… I’m quite a perfectionist on these exams that’s why I did the above, but it’s really more for if you want to be overprepared. A lot of things we learn from WK and Bunpro seem to be more than what will appear on the exam, so trying to complete the levels in both can make you more confident for the exam, but a bit of an overkill/unnecessary if you just want to pass

[bunnypro]

I’d say it’s worth a try as something to aim for, just don’t worry if you don’t pass it that time and keep going until the next time

You might want to brush up on N4 grammar because a lot of the grammar labelled “N4” on here shows up in the N3 test (more than the grammar labelled “N3” in my experience).

Summary

It could be something you’d regret if you don’t try it

[I-k-d]

I think it completly depends how much time you spend studying, I’m going from N5 to N3(probably) but I’m living in japan and studying maybe 4 hours a day (not as much on weekends tho haha). Just gotta put in the work

[drunkgome]

I took the N3 in July and managed to scrape a pass. I didn’t really study much until 2 weeks before the test. Obviously don’t do that lol, but I crammed a lot of previous tests and mock tests and quite a few questions came in verbatim, while others used the same vocabulary. Try to do as many mock tests as possible imo.

For the reading section, its quite common to run out of time so try to stick to the time limits as much as possible when doing mocks. Also dont fill the responses in on your mobile/laptop. The test itself is paper and pencil and filling out those infernal bubbles takes a bit more time than the single click required when doing it digitally. Those seconds can definitely add up. Also, in your preparation try reading sentences out loud to make sure that you are reading everything fluently. It could also help with memorization to have both visual and audio inputs. Most importantly, it might help your reading fluency and minimize how many times you need to reread a single sentence.

With regards to listening, try to practice listening without any visual context clues or subtitles. If your friends have time, try to talk to them over the phone to emulate the act of listening without any visual cues. Not doing that sooner was my biggest regret on test day. I hear japanese all around me on a daily basis, but I really underestimated how much context clues can aid in understanding and how much it hurts when those arent there.

Good luck!

tldr; do lots of mock tests, practice reading out loud. Practice listening blind (no pics/vids/subtitles or video calls)

[hitamitu]

i guess i’m kinda in the same boat since i want to go straight to N3 instead of doing N5/N4 cause i tried N3 mock test from the official website (the 2018 one) and passed quite nicely. So you might want to try doing the mock test first if you’re unsure about it

Just for reference, the things i do regularly are immersing in web novels and watch anime while farming for new words (they also improve my comprehension speed and feels regarding uses of certain grammar/vocab), learn kanji from anki and kanji study app (you probably dont need it since you have wanikani). i also just finished N5 grammar points in bunpro so i guess that helped a lot. Do note tho that i started my anki immersion journey a year ago so my vocab count in anki exceed 5k and i already learned around 1k kanji + i took japanese as additional course in college (they barely cover N5 tho).

currently planning to complete N4 grammar point in bunpro, memorize N4-N3 vocabs and read some N3 prep books

if you plan to actually take it, I hope we can both pass the N3 test