What's a good way to practice JLPT exam one month prior to it?

Japanese
#1

The title might be misleading,
I’m aiming for JLPT N3 next month.
I’ve started learning japanese 2 years ago and ever since I’m following the same routine for practicing:
-Anki for vocabulary
-Bunpro for grammar (since october, I was using genki and minna no nihongo before that)
-Immersion through podcast
-Reading on book aimed at teenager (currently reading Houkagou no jikanwari)

I’m halfway through N2 and I paused new items in order to focus on N3 since I’m taking JLPT N3 exam next month.
Right now my bunpro routine is : doing around 10-20 reviews (I’ve stopped adding new items), cramming the whole Bunpro N3 deck on reading mode and making sure I can guess everything in the sentence (meaning the grammar and the vocab used in the sentence). So far it’s quite fun as I’m focusing on things I already now and I’m solidifying my N3 Knowledge.

I was wondering if what I’m currently doing is a correct approach to undertake N3 exam next month ? it’s my first official JLPT exam and I tried 2 mock exams and it went pretty well, time management wise.
Mock exams can get a bit expensive so I don’t really want to spend money on that, plus it takes a few consecutive hours to complete which I can not afford with my 9-5 social lifestyle.
Also I recently realised that I don’t know the whole spectrum of vocabulary in the JLPT N3 list (around 300 missing) should I speedrun them ?
Any advice is more than welcome,
thank you for reading me and I hope you’ll all achieve your goals one day
Tony

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#2

What helped me with my N4 beyond well rounded studying was getting really used to the exam question types and what’s expected, I can recommend the Migii JLPT app (https://jlpt.migii.net/en/) - it’s fairly cheap and you can pick individual lesson types so don’t have to sit through a whole exam each time. It might also help with highlighting some areas where you might still need more practice as the examples are from real tests from the past (I think) so you can check your performance across the different sections.

Good luck with the JLPT!

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#3

I can recommend a paid Migii JLPT subscription as well, or in the case of offline practice, any JLPT practice book with lots of exam questions.

Also I recently realised that I don’t know the whole spectrum of vocabulary in the JLPT N3 list (around 300 missing) should I speedrun them ?

You’ll probably be fine without them. There is no official list or guarantee of any words to appear on any JLPT level, and the distinction between N3/N2 vocabulary in particular is infamously arbitrary.

Instead focus most of your time this month on practice questions. If you don’t have time for full mock tests, you can use practice books like 新完全マスター読解 and 新にほんご５００問 that allow you to complete problem sets in bite size chunks. Migii as well allows you to do 5-15 question randomly generated problem sets instead of full exams.

I think your current approach to Bunpro is great. Not adding more items is a good idea, because at this point it’s more efficient to study the kind of questions that will be asked on the test specifically and not Japanese in general.

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#4

Gonna mirror what everyone else has said. At the end of the day, its a test, and focusing on the Reading/Listening will have a big effect.

I would, money willing, pick up both JLPT books that the Japan times puts out. I happen to like them and they feel, like the real deal. Its pretty nice tbh. They also have, starting at the jlpt 3 something the “JLPT buddy” but I havnt used it myself. I intended to take the jlpt this winter so Ill take it for a test ride come maybe October.

But in terms of getting other jlpt books I do recommend that if only because the grammer questions can be a bit wonky imo. I dont like them. I currently have 新しいにほんご５００ by ASK publishing company that Sorega mentioned. They break questions up into days and weeks with the intention of using it a month in advance of a test. Im using it to gauge my N4 testing level before jumping into N3 content.

I cant speak for the online tests that were mentioned but Im willing to bet they work pretty well.

Everyone also tends to get riled up during test season so remember to breath and the day before, eat lots of veggies and take the second half of the day off to relax. Weather permitting go to a beach/lake or a local park and touch grass. But thats getting off topic.

Good luck!

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#5

Get really used to the style of questions the JLPT exam has and have an approach/strategy for every kind of question. JLPT is a test of your language knowledge, and not necessarily a test of your innate ability so it requires an understanding of the exam beforehand and its unique peculiarities.

You don’t want to get to a question and have your brain get all scrambled because you didn’t understand the logic of the question, or know how to approach a long reading section that has multiple questions etc.

In other words, don’t go in blind especially on the grammar, reading and listening questions.

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#6

Thanks for all the tips here everyone. I was wondering if there are any good YouTube videos that go through question types and general JLPT tips & tricks?

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#7

I have a reading tip that I learned in school and continued to employ throughout my life that I rarely ever see mentioned. Works in all languages where you have to read through a block of text and answer a question.

Basically at the start of short or long essays, read the questions first and make sure you understand them. Then go into the essay, as such you will have the questions in your mind as youre reading, and when you come across the answer it takes a second to jot it down. Then you continue.

I have found this way to be the most beneficial because trying to remember the specifics of several paragraphs gets messy, but a couple questions is easy. I sped through my reading questions and rarely get more than 1 or 2 wrong, mostly because I didnt understand the question properly.

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