December 2015 JLPT Results Available Online

[madphysicist]

Just in case you don't know, you don't have to buy the official sample papers - there's one for each level available free on the JLPT website. Obviously if you want to do more than one of each level you'll probably have to buy them, but just to see which is most appropriate to sign up for you can use those.

I think 1 year is enough for you to get to N3 but of course that depends how much time you can devote to studying.

 

[Mike Cash]

Just in case you don't know, you don't have to buy the official sample papers - there's one for each level available free on the JLPT website. Obviously if you want to do more than one of each level you'll probably have to buy them, but just to see which is most appropriate to sign up for you can use those.

I think 1 year is enough for you to get to N3 but of course that depends how much time you can devote to studying.

They give out a full exam's worth of questions and audio?

 

[madphysicist]

They give out a full exam's worth of questions and audio?

Yes, they can be found here with the answers:
Japanese-Language Proficiency Test Official Practice Workbook | JLPT Japanese-Language Proficiency Test

Another free test is the one they put out years ago to show the new test format, but that's a) incomplete, only gives 1 or 2 examples of each type of question and b) WAY easier than the real thing, I think I got about 95% on the N2 paper.
『新しい「日本語能力試験」問題例集』 | 日本語能力試験 JLPT

There are also several full listening tests available on youtube (not legally, I assume).

 

[Mike Cash]

Yes, they can be found here with the answers:
Japanese-Language Proficiency Test Official Practice Workbook | JLPT Japanese-Language Proficiency Test

Another free test is the one they put out years ago to show the new test format, but that's a) incomplete, only gives 1 or 2 examples of each type of question and b) WAY easier than the real thing, I think I got about 95% on the N2 paper.
『新しい「日本語能力試験」問題例集』 | 日本語能力試験 JLPT

There are also several full listening tests available on youtube (not legally, I assume).

Well, that's damned decent of them, I must say!

@OoTmaster when the test application period comes, download the tests for N4 and N3 and see how you stand. Be honest with yourself with how much studying and progress you are able to make between now and then and how much more you can reasonably expect to make before exam time.

 

[OoTmaster]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the information and the help.

 

[孝太郎]

Much to my amazement, I not only passed I did fairly well on the thing.

Vocab/Kanji/Grammar 48/60
Reading Comprehension 60/60
Listening Comprehension 57/60

Kanji/Vocab "A"
Grammar "A"

Total 165/180 (works out to 91.6%)

I now officially have no respect for the JLPT. If I can pass N1, then anybody can pass N1.

well done. I read all of the lower comments you left, and I can understand where you are coming from on that end, though it is still its own achievement which I personally view as deserving of a pat on the back. I've been studying on my own for 14 years and still can't pass N1 despite the language being part of my daily life. my scores for 2015 were 17/0/10 haha. I'm not sure how I got 0 on the reading portion as that doesn't seem to make much sense in that way it makes it look like i have zero reading comprehension. Oh well. I am still respectful of your passing and hopefully the 漢検 and 日本語検定 give you more satisfaction than the JLPT. Cheers.

 

[SomeCallMeChris]

my scores for 2015 were 17/0/10 haha. I'm not sure how I got 0 on the reading portion

You may not have done nearly as badly as your scores would claim, actually. Filling in bubbles at random (or down a single column, or in any pattern whatsover) you would expect to get 25% correct in every section. Getting a zero is pretty miraculous in fact.

I assume you didn't leave all the reading bubbles blank, but it looks suspiciously like you had some persistent problem with how you filled in the bubbles (not pressing hard enough, a pencil type that is hard to read, smudges that make it look like multiple answers are filled in... ).

Since it's unlikely that problem happened -only- in the reading section, you may also have scored much higher in the other sections as well and just been better enough with your bubble method that some of the answers registered.

If you take the test again, make sure to bring a high-quality eraser and not rely on those stupid nubs on your pencil, and also bring the softest allowable pencil (it'll mark darker and easier). I don't like mechanical pencils either for these tests because they make such thin lines it's harder to fill in the bubbles completely unless you spend a lot of time at it. (Okay a second or two more, but multiply that out over the number of questions on the test and it becomes valuable minutes!)

 

[孝太郎]

You may not have done nearly as badly as your scores would claim, actually. Filling in bubbles at random (or down a single column, or in any pattern whatsover) you would expect to get 25% correct in every section. Getting a zero is pretty miraculous in fact.

I assume you didn't leave all the reading bubbles blank, but it looks suspiciously like you had some persistent problem with how you filled in the bubbles (not pressing hard enough, a pencil type that is hard to read, smudges that make it look like multiple answers are filled in... ).

Since it's unlikely that problem happened -only- in the reading section, you may also have scored much higher in the other sections as well and just been better enough with your bubble method that some of the answers registered.

If you take the test again, make sure to bring a high-quality eraser and not rely on those stupid nubs on your pencil, and also bring the softest allowable pencil (it'll mark darker and easier). I don't like mechanical pencils either for these tests because they make such thin lines it's harder to fill in the bubbles completely unless you spend a lot of time at it. (Okay a second or two more, but multiply that out over the number of questions on the test and it becomes valuable minutes!)

I hadn't thought of that actually. indeed, now that you mention it, i did have some instances where I messed up and filled in the wrong bubbles. I use a plastic eraser but this year I'll get a better one and I only use #2 pencils for these tests that's all they allow. I'll know the details in March. Thanks for the thoughts, made my day better. haha.

 

[madphysicist]

well done. I read all of the lower comments you left, and I can understand where you are coming from on that end, though it is still its own achievement which I personally view as deserving of a pat on the back. I've been studying on my own for 14 years and still can't pass N1 despite the language being part of my daily life. my scores for 2015 were 17/0/10 haha. I'm not sure how I got 0 on the reading portion as that doesn't seem to make much sense in that way it makes it look like i have zero reading comprehension. Oh well. I am still respectful of your passing and hopefully the 漢検 and 日本語検定 give you more satisfaction than the JLPT. Cheers.

Since the scores are scaled so heavily, if you got anything under about 40% it might be converted to 0 depending on how everyone else did. They are expecting that every candidate will at least guess an answer, so 25% is the "minimum" anyone should get and therefore should roughly correlate to 0/60. Buuuuut for each question, the answers 1 2 3 4 are weighted differently, so correct answers are worth different amounts. The point is your final score depends not only on how many questions you got right, but which ones. I think the way they scale it is rather misleading and makes a lot of people think they did worse than they actually did.
tl;dr: you can get 0/60 even if you get quite a few questions right.

But if you are capable of reading Japanese in everyday life, I do agree it's more likely that there was a problem with filling in the bubbles. If it appears that you filled in 2 answers (because it didn't erase properly) they might give a heavier penalty than if you just filled 1 wrong answer.

 

[Mike Cash]

My score report arrived. Is that cheap-assed plastic postcard the only thing they give out these days or will a certificate suitable for framing be coming in the mail someday?

 

[孝太郎]

My score report arrived. Is that cheap-assed plastic postcard the only thing they give out these days or will a certificate suitable for framing be coming in the mail someday?

They should be giving you a proper certificate still. the plastic card is news to me.