Monbukagakusho Scholarship for Postgraduate!!

[luvearest]

hi all
for the postgraduate written test, anyone here going to leave the Japanese test blank?
Can we choose not to answer?

Looking forward to u guys there.

 

[noisyarsenic]

hi all
for the postgraduate written test, anyone here going to leave the Japanese test blank?
I'm going to sit for the test.

Can we choose not to answer?
Yes, we can.

Looking forward to u guys there.

i wish you good luck in the exam. 1 more week before judgement day, i'm getting quite nervous already.

 

[uranussama]

I've been keeping an eye on this thread (as well as a few others) for several weeks now... I'm actually applying for the Japanese Studies scholarship from MEXT, not the postgraduate, but I suppose I could write about my experience anyways incase anyone's interested.
I went to the consulate for the test back in March. Since I was applying for Japanese Studies, I only had to take the Japanese test and nothing else. It was EXTREMELY difficult. I've been studying Japanese for four years and I guessed on about half of it. I commented on the difficulty of the exam to the guy and he said that some of the Japanese people in the office were looking the exam over and were saying how if you can pass it, you dont NEED a scholarship to study Japanese He really acknowledged how hard the exam is so it gave me the impression that they take that into consideration.
The interview was a few hours later. It was an American guy and two Japanese gentlemen. The American did most of the talking, the two Japanese men were really stoic and intimidating until towards the end they livened up a bit. They just basically asked me why I'm studying Japanese, why I want to study in Japan, what I plan on doing once I get out of college... things like that. They seemed to be really interested on whether I'd fare well in Japan or not... they asked me questions that seemed to be gauging whether I could handle life there or not, i.e. "What kind of hardships did you have in Japan the last time you went" "Are you able to stay for the full year" "Do you have any aversions to Japanese food" etc etc etc. I think they were kind of impressed that I had studied in Japan before
Anyways several weeks later I received word that I had been shortlisted! So I've been waiting these past two long months for the final okay from MEXT... supposedly I should hear back from them sometime this month! :win: I've been pretty antsy lately though, that's for sure
So that was my experience. I have a few questions though... does anyone know where I could find statistics on how many people are taken from each country for each type of scholarship? For example how many they take from the US for post-grad, undergrad, Japanese Studies, etc.? I think I remember seeing a graph like that somewhere on the web but I cant seem to remember where I found it ☝

 

[dblbstrd]

studyjapan.go.jp tends to have the list of how many students are accepted yearly for each scholarship category. Not sure if they have Japanese-studies listed on there but they might.

If you don't get the monbukagakusho scholarship for the one year in Japan, you should see what programs your own school's international office has. When I was a first year undergrad, a friend of mine from Japanese class was getting set up to go on one of the programs and he told everybody in the class that they had another program that nobody had signed up for, and they had spots for a couple or three people with scholarships. All I had to do was sign up and they gave me a JASSO scholarship, which paid for plane tickets both ways and 80,000 yen per month for 10 months. Not as much as the monbusho gives you, and 80k yen a month doesn't go that far in Tokyo but I was also able to get a couple of outside scholarships that year that gave one-time stipends, and somehow or other I made it work.
From what I understand, a certain number of the JASSO scholarships are allocated each year to certain exchange programs that accept one-year students. Depending how big your home university is and how popular their study-abroad programs are, it can be very easy to get into some of these as it was in my case.

Anyway, good luck to you!

 

[kumakumasan]

uranussama: You studied in Japan before? For how long? I studied there for a year and I find the practice exams hard as well. I'm taking the Japanese test next week. I wonder if you had to take the same exam (I'm taking the exam for postgrad. There are 3 levels A, B, C). Did you ever find out how you did on the tests?

Good luck to you!!

Everyone: Anybody see my English test questions on the bottom of page 16

 

[uranussama]

kumakumasan:
I studied in Japan for only four months but I had a great time! There was only one level of test for the Japanese Studies scholarship but I dont know which level it was... I'm thinking probably level C. I didnt find out how I did on the tests... which was okay, I really didnt want to

 

[Charles Barkley]

This test that was so difficult--did it start out with like 10 or so not so hard multiple choice, than have some harder short questions, then have 3 long passages (the last of maybe 6 pages) of increasing difficulty (when I say increasing, I can only assume that, though I couldnt do the second or the third at all), and then at the end have a kanji bit where you had to physically write kanji readings and the kanji themselves?

That was the test I took for the special JET exam. I was expecting the 3 exams, and expecting ace the first, do very well on the second, and then fail the third, but the one they gave was just brutal. Much harder than reading say, a normal article in Japanese newsweek...

 

[fulhamerica]

I sat the same exact test that Sir Charles is speaking of. This test was quite difficult, I agree. Especially the section about Agaru and Noboru. The definitions were very detailed. I have been studying Japanese for 8 years, and lived in Japan for 3 of those years and I think that I scored about a 70-80%.
Does anyone know if there is deadline to send in the Naidakusho? My Naidaku has been written, but is taking some time to arrive so I don't want to miss out because of this. Any comments?

 

[menrui]

Well, I am almost ready to turn in my applications. All I need is the recommendation form from my professor... Hopefullu she will pulls through for me!

My proposal ened up being 3 pages. I thought it would be better to keep it simple so they can read it.

I looked over the 3rd section of the japanese test and wow, that is a huge jump in difficulty. I've been taking classes for 3 years and I dont recognize most of those kanjis...

Any ways, good luck to every one! see you in japan!

 

[clockworkorange]

hi all
for the postgraduate written test, anyone here going to leave the Japanese test blank?
Can we choose not to answer?

Looking forward to u guys there.

Hi luvearest!!!!

first of all, i'd like to apologize for not replying to ur earlier post about when the notification letter would arrive. i actually missed the post!!!

And i know this is probably too last minute to help ease any worries u may have but i'm NOT taking the japanese exam as well!!!!! Just taking the english one!!

I still haven done the past english papers. I actually took leave to prepare for the tests but i was swamped with work this week (of all weeks) and had to cancel it. I tried doing the tests on the train to and from work but i kept worrying about getting stabbed in the chest by my pen if the train lurched. (which is very weird of me, i know).

Neway, all the best to everyone tmr!!!!!! I'm so nervous....

 

[midorineko]

皆さまよろしく！ I am applying for the 2009 scholarship and have just received notice from my consulate to attend the exams and interview later this month. The practice tests available show the Japanese exam in three hour long parts of varying difficulty. However, the exam schedule I received only provides one hour for the English exam and one hour for the Japanese exam. Does anyone know if the Japanese exam will be like part A, B, or C? Do we choose which difficulty we would like to take?

 

[menrui]

^ I thought it was an hour for each Japanese exam, a total of 3 hours. But I'm not sure and I would like to know the answer to that question as well.

I have a question of my own. After looking around, I noticed some embassies place a "if applicable" next to the "abtract of thesis" requirement. My embassy did not and I never had to write a graduation thesis. I'll call them on monday, but does any know if I could replace this with anything? I've taken plenty of class laboratory and I read some where that I could replace it with my best lab paper.

 

[midorineko]

I thought it would be a three hour test as well, but the instruction sheet I received from the consulate is as follows:
9:45am—10:45am English Examination (optional)
10:50am—11:50am Japanese Examination
11:50am—1:20pm Lunch
The interviews are supposed to take place after lunch. Since it looks like I will have only time for one out of three possible exams I am curious which level I will be taking.

 

[kumakumasan]

I just took my Japanese test; this year it's only 1 hour and only one Japanese test. Starts off easy, then the last two sections are quite hard.

 

[midorineko]

Kumakumasan:
Thank you for the clarification. I am really nervous about this exam.

 

[fulhamerica]

Kumakumasan is right that the Japanese test is now just one hour. It does become more difficult, however if you have a bit of experience with Japanese, it isn't as bad as some other exams I have written.

 

[midorineko]

Well, my proficiency should be close to level 2 of the JLPT, hopefully that should be good enough to give me a passing score. Speaking of which, does anyone know what percentage is considered a passing score?
I have read that other countries are required to take the English test while the Japanese test is optional. Is the English exam weighted the same for native English speakers as it is for other? I.E. if I bomb the difficult portions of the Japanese test but do well on the more basic questions, and do really well on the English exam, would that be enough to qualify?

 

[窶堙?窶堙昶?堋ｶ]

After taken the written exam for both english and japanese, I have a strong sense of I will not be selected! This year only 70 students will be selected for the postgraduate scholarship! So worry now!

 

[dblbstrd]

Well, my proficiency should be close to level 2 of the JLPT, hopefully that should be good enough to give me a passing score. Speaking of which, does anyone know what percentage is considered a passing score?
I have read that other countries are required to take the English test while the Japanese test is optional. Is the English exam weighted the same for native English speakers as it is for other? I.E. if I bomb the difficult portions of the Japanese test but do well on the more basic questions, and do really well on the English exam, would that be enough to qualify?

All that is required to qualify for consulate recommendation is that you simply *pass* one or the other. So as long as you pass the English exam, you wouldn't necessarily even have to answer anything at all on the Japanese one. The idea is that they want you to demonstrate proficiency in at least one language in which you can sufficiently communicate with your research advisor (many professors speak English, so English is ok in that case).
They would, however, use the Japanese exam to judge what placement you need (if any) in language school before you go to your research department.
If you think you are at about 2kyuu level, you should be fine.
What I would say is more important for selection is your research proposal, and whether or not you can find a professor who would be interested in having you (I suspect this last point makes a big difference in many cases).

Hope that helps

 

[midorineko]

dblbstrd,
Thank you so much for your reply, I found it immensely helpful and reassuring.
I already have a professor who has agreed to accept me once I pass the interview screening. I have been working on this scholarship for the better part of the last year. My field of study is history, so I expect it will be necessary to demonstrate some proficiency in Japanese during the exam/interview. I studied at a Japanese university for the year of 2006 while getting my BA and passed my classes there with a 4.0 so hopefully that will reflect favorably on my ability to cope with life in Japan...
I guess there is not much left to do but try and think of answers to possible interview questions and brush up on my Japanese.

 

[fulhamerica]

もみじさん、
70 meaning worldwide I assume, correct? Did your embassy say this would be the number?

Just out of curiosity, has anyone else also heard this number?

 

[dblbstrd]

In most recent years the number has been around 4000 worldwide each year, according to JASSO or whatever. I don't know how many they will accept in the upcoming year.

Midorineko, it kind of slipped my mind, but now that I think of it, you're right-- if you're doing something like history that would require language ability, you will need to demonstrate some proficiency. But yeah, if you've studied Japanese in Japan and have a reasonable intermediate level, that should be enough. There will probably be Japanese classes available for you if you want, but at that level they might not require you to do the 6-month intensive language program.
My school opted me out of the language program, and I was not able to answer anything on the hardest of the three tests, but I think I did pretty well on the medium one...

 

[menrui]

^ hehe, I just wanted to say, that I'm trying to enter in the field of chemistry, and it seems like any scientific research requires English and only English. I read that laboratories are conducted in english and furthermore, I have never seen any scientific research paper written in any language other than english. So maybe my japanese ability won't be important haha.

 

[Charles Barkley]

窶堙?窶堙昶?堋ｶ窶堋ｳ窶堙ｱﾂ、
70 meaning worldwide I assume, correct? Did your embassy say this would be the number?

Just out of curiosity, has anyone else also heard this number?

He probably means out of malaysia...

 

[menrui]

I wonder how many people actually apply... Anyone know the statistics? I remember there was a website about it but I don't remember it...