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Jlpt 2015 december

Davey

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5 Feb 2005
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Wondering who will take the test this December, what level and where.

I will go for n2 again, at Kobe university.

Only 2 weeks to go, still a lot to do... Ganbarou!
 
Im challenging the N1 this year, Brazil though.

may our attention spans be high and our anxieties be low~
 
Wow not being surrounded by Japanese and try to go for n1!

Wish you all the best! Please let us know how it went.
 
Wow. After all these years! 尊敬します。頑張れ!

Thank you. Last time (only time) I took the JLPT was the old level 2 in 1996. There's no real point in taking N1. Just something to do. I'm far more interested in getting the results of the 日本語検定 I took earlier this month.
 
I took (and barely failed) the N2 around that same time frame, late 90s. That was pretty much the peak of my educational Japanese. After that I just went to learning by osmosis. (Or maybe unlearning. I'm sure I've forgotten most of the stuff I don't use regularly.)
 
I took (and barely failed) the N2 around that same time frame, late 90s. That was pretty much the peak of my educational Japanese. After that I just went to learning by osmosis. (Or maybe unlearning. I'm sure I've forgotten most of the stuff I don't use regularly.)

If you took it back then you took "2", as "N2" didn't exist yet.
 
Wow Mike! That's nice to read you will take it as well!

How was the 日本語検定? Never heard of it before, is it really different from the jlpt?
 
Wow Mike! That's nice to read you will take it as well!

How was the 日本語検定? Never heard of it before, is it really different from the jlpt?

日本語検定-ビジネス,就活,学力アップ。日本語力を高める検定です。

Very different. The major difference is that it is primarily intended for native speakers, although anyone is free to take it. I tried levels 5 and 4

table_class.jpg


One of the biggest factors is time, as you take the same exam as native speakers under the same time limit. That means the largest limiting factor isn't really your total Japanese knowledge or ability, but your ability to read smoothly and quickly with no time wasted on translating in your head.

It also requires you to display your ability to actually write Japanese, unlike the JLPT. Since it is intended for native speakers, hey take the ability to understand what you are hearing for granted and there is no listening comprehension section.

I have put off taking N1 mostly because I have no need for it and there is no up side to taking it for me. (If I take it and fail, I'll lose regard for myself. If I take it and pass, I'll lose regard for N1). But I think I would actually take a little pride in passing the Nihongo Kentei. It tests up to a level of knowledge that only a tiny proportion of even native speakers can pass, and its assessments of "Your Japanese knowledge is xxx good" come without the limiting stigma of an unspoken "....for a gaijin" at the end, which I find to be its most appealing point. It is free of the "soft bigotry of low expectations" inherent in the JLPT.
 
@Mike Cash I'm probably reading it wrong, but level 4 is middle school? I'm guessing that's probably well above the equivalent of N1 based on my reading on the JLPT site of what people with N1 feel competent to do.

I looked over the level 7 and although I could understand quite a bit, I certainly couldn't pass the test.

Best of luck! Look forward to hearing the results and a review of how it went in comparison to the N1.
 
I passed N2 in July. But N1 seems to be so so so difficult.
may take N1 later.

But is N1 really necessary if I want to move to Japan?
 
@Mike Cash I'm probably reading it wrong, but level 4 is middle school? I'm guessing that's probably well above the equivalent of N1 based on my reading on the JLPT site of what people with N1 feel competent to do.

Level 4 is aimed at native speakers who have graduated junior high school.

One of the other nice things about this test as compared to the JLPT is that you may take the examination booklet home with you. About a week after the test the correct answers are posted online, so if you mark your answers in the exam it is easy to see how well you did well before the official results come out. I'm not sure how they weight the points, but going just by simple math I got about 94% on the level 5 (elementary school graduate) and somewhere in the low 80s on the level 4....as best I can figure it, anyway. I'm positive I passed 5, probably passed 4 but won't know until about the 15th.

I was quite surprised by how many questions there were. I didn't really notice until I went to count up the number of answers so I count guess at my score. I believe there were something like 82 answers on the level 5 and 89 answers on the level 4. As you can imagine, on an all-reading test intended for native speakers with extensive experience and facility with reading Japanese, that means the foreign student is going to have to boogie along at a very good pace to finish up in 50 minutes. You have to at least match the pace of whatever level of native dullard they have deemed as having the bare minimum brains to make it.

I looked over the level 7 and although I could understand quite a bit, I certainly couldn't pass the test.

Best of luck! Look forward to hearing the results and a review of how it went in comparison to the N1.

Thank you.

You never know how you might do until you try. Why not give it a go next summer? Other good things about the test are that it is very inexpensive compared to the JLPT and that you can sit two different levels in the same day if you want (they do even numbers in the morning and odd numbers in the afternoon). Also, as it comes about a month before the JLPT it isn't a bad little practice test.

At my center, for the morning session there were I think three people sitting level 2, two of us sitting level 4, and no one sitting level 6. The other level 4 was a young lady of perhaps 14 or 15. She finished early. I slid in just under the wire. There was one no-show for the level 4. In the afternoon there were three people sitting level 1 (which has a pass rate under 10%), seven people sitting level 3, two of us for level 5, and one eight year old girl sitting level 7. The same person who was a no-show for level 4 also didn't show up for level 5. I think the other person taking level 5 was a fellow foreigner, but I'm not sure. It was a lady in her forties who seemed not to finish the test in the allotted time. I finished up with about ten minutes to spare. I wish I had been able to take 5 first and then 4 afterwards, as it would have been a good warm-up and would have saved me the time of reading the instructions for each section of the test in level 4, where time was a much more valuable commodity.

Sadly, this test seems to be very little known in the foreign learner community. A google search on "Nihongo Kentei" turns up astonishingly little mention of it...and what little there is is both several years old and misinformed (people confusing it for the JLPT mostly). I'd like to see it become more widely known and more foreign learners challenging it instead of just the JLPT, which lately I begin to wonder if it hasn't done more to stifle Japanese learning than to promote it.[/QUOTE]
 
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Hmm... Maybe I'll sit the 7 and see. At the minimum, I'll learn something about myself. I'm a bit disheartened, though, because although I've been studying and taking lessons my recent shot at the N4 practice questions seemed to go worse than previous attempts.

I'm not studying specifically for the JLPT, but it seems like studying Japanese should naturally help me to improve my score on the JLPT, and certainly not lower the score.
 
Taking the N1 in Fayetteville, Arkansas tomorrow! The culmination of my undergrad and two study abroad experiences. Super stoked.
 
Kentei looks pretty interesting to me, especially since it has speaking and actual writing in it. Will search more about it.

Just a few hours before the tests starts: which is just 10min from my house hehe. Think I did the best I could to prepare myself so will just try to relax and enjoy it.

Good luck to all! May the force be with you.... Sorry just made star wars Lego with my kids :)
 
First part... Not too bad although I need some luck hehe. Really got to practice reading more....

Next part should be fairly easy.

Still feeling pretty relaxed.

Hope it wasn't too bad either for you Mike.
 
First part... Not too bad although I need some luck hehe. Really got to practice reading more....

Next part should be fairly easy.

Still feeling pretty relaxed.

Hope it wasn't too bad either for you Mike.

The first part....we'll see in February.

The listening part....I wish I were surrounded by people who speak that clearly.
 
kanji/grammar/vocab/reading went fine except for me forgetting the reading of 変遷 and the proper usage of はなはだしい and 帯びる

聴解 remembered me of how much of a rookie I'm still am.

gotta wait and see. It was fun though.
 
kanji/grammar/vocab/reading went fine except for me forgetting the reading of 変遷 and the proper usage of はなはだしい and 帯びる

聴解 remembered me of how much of a rookie I'm still am.

gotta wait and see. It was fun though.

We had precisely the same experience on the first part, it would seem.

I wondered why they made the listening part so incredibly much easier than the rest of it. I went into it never having heard any practice audio, so I had no idea what to expect. When they played the first example audio I wondered why they made it so much easier than what would be on the test.... then they started the test and I thought, "You gotta be joking...." I really couldn't believe the gap in expectations of proficiency between the two parts of the test.

I didn't study or prepare for the test, and the results for the first part may very well show that. (I've always said I don't believe I could pass it without studying for it). But apparently decades of living and working with people who speak nowhere near as clearly as the voice actors on the test was ample preparation in itself.

On an unrelated note:

The Nihongo Kentei proctors address and treat test takers with dignity and civility. The JLPT proctors act like they're dealing with criminals and dim-witted children. The gap is astounding.

And does anyone else wonder why they don't have anyone proofread their English language materials? I cracked up at their signs in the toilets to "Please use the restroom beautifully". If you're going to set yourself up to measure foreign language proficiency, then lead by example ***.
 
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