N5 JLPT Exam Questions Reading Practice

Japanese
#1

Hi all,

Last night I tried a mock exam for the N5 JLPT via the Todai app. This was my first time trying this test and these were my results:

67/120 Language Knowledge broken into a score of 35/40 for Vocab/Grammar + 32/80 Reading
39/60 Listening
106/180 Overall: Pass 58.9%

As you can see, my Reading portion of it I almost bombed and I am unhappy with myself for that score, thus I want to improve it.

I would like to know if there are any resources you would recommend that I can practice this portion of the JLPT exam specifically, as I would like to make sure that when I sit my N5 in December I’m not just going for the base pass mark % but rather pushing my score as high as I can achieve it.

If there are also any resources for listening practice please shoot them over, but primarily I need to focus on Reading in the short term.

Cheers!

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#2

Bunpro actually has reading practice (I think up to N2). Besides that, it’s probably a push with only N5 under your belt but I’d suggest looking at Satori Reader (paid but aimed at low level learners - I’ve never used it but it’s highly recommended by many people). I’d personally recommend also to just keep studying through N4 materials as everything in N5 is so fundamental that you’ll be reviewing it by looking at any random sentence as you keep learning. It’ll also make you feel more confident. For listening there is that comprehensible input youtube channel, although it isn’t JLPT focused the Japanese is extremely simple. Also there is the beginner teppei podcast, can’t remember what that one is called though.

Quick edit: You can also use cram mode on Bunpro and set the reviews to the read/review style. I’m not sure but N5 reading isn’t longer than like a sentence or so at a time, right?

Maybe someone who has sat the N5 will have a different opinion but I’d personally say just keep pushing and don’t worry too much about perfecting the score or anything. It’ll come naturally in time if you keep studying new material.

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#3

Wow thank you incredibly! A few people I know have said to stick with N5 and focus on exam preparation, but I was wondering about continuing into N4.

So even though I should exam prep, I should also continue to N4/Genki II to reinforce previously learned points? :slight_smile: Sorry if these seem like obvious questions but as you can imagine I would like to pass this exam haha!

Yes that’s been my experience with N5 BP sentences, usually short sentences with the odd conjunction here and there. I believe the N4 example sentences are where it starts to pick up in the depth.

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#4

Honest answer is it depends how much time you have to study each day. If you’ve only got 10 minutes a day then just cram for the test. N5 level stuff is definitely something you can just brute force into your memory without really understanding (in my opinion) so cramming for the test would definitely work but my opinion from a language learning perspective, rather than a test-taking one, is that moving on at a reasonable pace will help piece together what you’ve learnt so far into a more meaningful picture. Obviously you need to keep reviewing and revising the N5 materials though but the purpose of having an SRS is to deal with that for you. There’s a couple of months until the test so if you were to review and study for an hour or two a day until the test then you should be in an okay position. Quality hours early on make a very big dent (unfortunately the returns are extremely diminishing after a while).

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#5

Fortunately I’m in a position where I can commit to 2-3 hours studying a day (sometimes even more) + however much on the weekend too.

I might just go and start getting my teeth sunk into N4 but once a week do a practice N5 exam and review answers. Probably the sanest way I guess?

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#6

Here you go - I’ve done all the N4 reading ones on here in the past, pretty good. There’s about 30 or so N5 ones.

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#7

You are an absolute legend. Thank you!

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#8

If you have that much time and you honestly use it then that sounds like a good plan. Materials for reading and listening practice really open up after N4 and that is right when the dunning kruger effect takes hold so also a perfect time for a first humbling attempt at native media - keep pushing!

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#9

Thank you for taking the time to reply in this thread mate, you have been incredibly kind and I thank you deeply for your suggestions. You too are an absolute legend :slight_smile:

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#10

My experience was that the only issue with moving onto the N4 content, is that it typically uses Kanji with Furigana. Then when you do N5, it’s typically hiragana only, so it actually threw me a bit seeing いぬ rather than 犬 etc etc

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#11

Yeah this was something I struggled with last night in my mock exam. It’s quite difficult to read some vocab as I’m so used to having seen it in it’s Kanji form - any advice on tackling this?

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#12

Nothing particularly insightful other than ‘read it aloud in your head’ and then sometimes you’ll suddenly recognise it.
Welcome to the “oh it’s soooo much easier to read Japanese when there’s kanji rather than just hiragana” club…

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#13

I think I can officially say I am a Kanji enjoyer - I really didn’t realise how much easier and how much more context I can get when it’s present vs absent.

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#14

A very prestigious club :blush:

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