Journey to JLPT N2
Todays Update
Date: 2026-04-17
Topic/Title: What I did
Today:
Yesterday night I read a decent amount of a new manga and just decided not to do lookups for things I didn’t know because it seems to make reading so much less enjoyable for me. If there was something I really felt was important and I happened to not understand it I would look it up but for the most part words that I didn’t know were so in context I could just guess the meaning. For anyone curious what I’m reading it’s 黄泉のツガイ. I picked it up before realizing they were making an anime for it so maybe this can be the first book and anime I watch together fully in Japanese! I’m actually pretty happy with house much I’m able to read it’s almost a feeling of relief like “Yes maybe all these hours of study actually did something”. I’m starting to get to the point where I can operate fully in Japanese with things that aren’t too difficult.
Other than that I’ve done all my reviews and new vocab and grammar for the day and will continue my reviews until I go to sleep. The real challange is just starting though as weekends tend to feel so much worse because they have less structure to the day. I end up just thinking oh I’ll do it later and then when later comes I hate that I did that XD. I might make another post tomorrow but odds are they will resume on Monday.
Past Entries (Click Here For Old Entries)
Date: 2026-04-14
Topic/Title: Start of the Climb
This is going to be a bit of a long one.
TLDR:
I am making a big push for JLPT N2 this upcoming December. I will graduate in the Spring and want to have passed the JLPT N2 so I can more easily get Software Related Jobs in Japan and because I think it will be fun to really challenge myself. I plan on documenting my journey to either success or failure.
Background:
I am currently living and working in Japan as an intern at a software company until August. I’m really enjoying it and I’ve decided I would like to move here for at least a couple years after I graduate in May 2027. The thing is I can’t come back and work at my current company because they require a strict level of JLPT N1 for anyone who isn’t natively Japanese. I’ve come to accept that but it’s got me thinking about all the other jobs I would be unable to do because of a lack of certification. Because of that I have decided to take the JLPT N2 this upcoming December
Study:
I am currently studying to take the JLPT N3 test in July and then the N2 in December. I am working my way through the N3 with 4 new grammar a day and have been backtracking to catch up on the Bunpro vocab. After porting about 30 levels of WaniKani over to the app. I am at around 700/1100 vocab in N4, 820/2000 in N3, and 350/2000 in N2 vocab. At my current pace of 20 words a day I should finish all of the vocab for the N3 test just before the exam and then can dial it back a little bit and should be able to finish all of the vocab for N2. Along with that I am reading for about an hour or two outside of my reviews and then watching shows and interacting in daily life living in Japan. With all of the things I have done outside of and before Bunpro I am less concerned about passing the N3 test but I figured that it would be a good way to measure my progress and I just personally want to take it to have a goal to shoot for in-between the N2.
Reason For Post:
In the past couple weeks I have been coming to the forms here and reading through people’s talks about studying and the ups and downs that come with that and I really find a lot of value in knowing that other people struggle and succeed in the same way I do. Because of that I wanted to add something that could show people the journey of studying through my perspective. Regardless of if I pass or fail I think just seeing what it’s like to work towards something is really inspiring and I hope that this can be something that helps others and myself for those days where studying is extra tough.
Date: 2026-04-15
Topic/Title: Talking about reading
Reading Practice:
I kinda wanted to talk about what I’m doing for reading and to see what others think about it and what they might recommend. Currently after doing all of my reviews and new vocab and grammar I do this:
- Read all the new articles on NHK easy
- Go through about a chapter of the N4 graded readers (Catching up to the new content)
- Do two pages of 日本語総まとめ N3
I read some part of a manga I’ve been working through maybe once or twice a week but that is about all of it for now. Once I catch up to the N3 Graded readers which should be by this weekend I’ll have to switch it up and add some different reading in there to maintain about 1 - 2 hours of reading a day which is my current goal. What would you recommend at around the N3 level for reading?
Date: 2026-04-16
Topic/Title: Progress In General
Where I’m at:
I plan on taking a practice JLPT N3 on May 5th. Not doing a part or two but taking the entire test in one sitting to simulate the actual test. By that point I will be half way through the N3 grammar and Vocab on Bunpro. The thought is to get a gage of how I would be doing on the actual test and tweak in the areas that I am the weakest in.
Routine:
I spend about an hour in the morning doing all my anki and bunpro reviews along with taking my 20 new vocab and 4 new grammar. Outside of that I do all of my reviews down to 0 every hour because I have the time to and with the amount of content I’m taking if I didn’t I can see it spiraling out of control. I do the bunpro graded readings and 2 pages of nihongo so-matome.
The part that I’m struggling with now is what to do with all of my extra time (About 1 - 2 hours). Up to this point I’ve been catching up by doing all the graded readers on here for N4 but I’ve just finished the last one of those. Also as someone mentioned yesterday, I feel like I’ve outgrown NHK easy. I don’t want to change the amount of vocab and grammar I’m taking cause I don’t think that’s manageable and plus I’m already on pace to finish the grammar and vocab needed before each test. The best course of action is probably to pick up a book and start reading more but I was wondering if anyone else had any recommendations for other study methods that might be better alongside reading.
Mental:
I’ve been feeling good about the study and over the past month I think I’ve been able to see some good progress which is nice cause I felt kinda stagnant before. Monday was pretty rough cause it felt like I couldn’t keep down any new vocab but that was also probably due to lack of sleep. Funny enough I’ve actually been way more on top of getting good rest recently cause it’s too much of a pain to study for hours when you can’t focus (Need optimal nihongo gains). Other than that it’s going good but I’m sure I’ll have some rough spots in the future so I wanted to add this in here to be able to come back to.
I find I’m engaging my brain much more to try and figure out the kanji readings and meaning from memory. Much more tiring, but I think you’ll improve faster in the long run.