Hi there,

If your goal is to improve your speaking skills, I would concentrate on actual conversation practice instead of the JLPT. The only good thing about the JLPT is that it can provide motivation for you to study or it can qualify you for some jobs. But if you don’t need to pass the JLPT for any qualifications, I would focus my energy on speaking Japanese instead. If you want to know why this is important, or which level of the jlpt you should take in the future, check out this other article we wrote on the subject: Which Level of the JLPT Should I Take?. Hope this helps! And good luck with your studies!

Sorry for my late reply!

I’m not too sure where you can get a digital copy of the Kanzen Master Series…however, there are some listening, grammar, and vocabulary vidoes/audio files on Youtube for both the JLPT N1 and N2.

Hope your studies are going well!

Thank you for the post. I found it very helpful and informative. I will be sitting for the JLPT N1 or N2 (depending on how my studies progress) in December.

About the CD’s…do you know where I can download a digital format of the audio sections for the books (specifically for the Kanzen Master series)?

I haven’t used a CD in ages!

Thanks Jack! Your response is very motivating.

Hi Nandha. I agree. I think the Kanzen Master books are harder….the material itself is hard, and it is hard to study since it’s very text heavy. The Sou Matome books have a lot more white space and some pictures, so it makes it really easy to study. That’s why I like using more than one book to study for the JLPT. So I think it’s great that you are using both books…especially since no one book covers all of the information on the test. I used the Sou Matome and Kanzen Master books, as well as a few others to help me prepare for the N2.

As for the answers…the only advice I can give you is to keep it up. Don’t stop. Continuously read, make mistakes, and learn. The more mistakes you make now, the less you’ll make on the test….that is, if you learn why you made those mistakes in the first place. I also found that for many practice JLPT tests, as well as some of the problems in the Kanzen Master books, they were harder than the actual test. So don’t get discouraged…even if don’t do so well on those practice questions, you might do better on the real test. That being said, practice does make perfect. So keep on reading as much as you can…you’ll increase your kanji knowledge, reading speed and comprehension. Then you can use the books like Sou Matome and Kanzen Master to learn how to answer JLPT type of questions.

Don’t lose hope! Keep on studying and you’ll get there!

Good luck with the test!

Thanks!

Hi Miiko!

Which books are you using to study for the JLPT? For vocabulary, I actually used 3 books. Sou Matome, Kanzen Master, and this other book by the Intercultural Institute of Japan (awesome book, but hard to find outside of Japan). For learning vocabulary, the Sou Matome book was by far the easiest to study. I completed the whole vocabulary book in two months or so. I made flash cards of most of the words (the ones I didn’t already know) and studied them daily. More importantly, I kept reviewing them until I mastered them. If you use apps to study, Anki is good for this too. Just a heads up…no matter how many vocabulary words you study, or how many books you use, there will probably be a few vocabulary words and kanji that you haven’t seen before. I think they do this purposely and adjust your score according to how many people get those questions right or wrong.

You definitely need to know a lot of kanji. There are a few questions in the beginning of the test (part 1) where you’ll be asked about kanji (how to read kanji, meanings of kanji, etc.). However, the reading section is all kanji. If you can’t read at least a few hundred kanji (or more like 1,000 or more) the reading part will not be fun. Heck, even if you know 2,000 kanji the reading part is not fun. But you’ll need to be able to read passages and small articles in Japanese quickly, and know little differences in meaning to answer the questions. To do this, I highly recommend reading Japanese as much as possible. At first, you should read things that interests you. I used to read magazines and blogs online. I would look up any kanji I didn’t know and write it down in a notebook. I would review all of these kanji, and re-read all of the material. After a few weeks, my reading speed and comprehension went up. I also learned a lot of kanji in the process….I couldn’t write those kanji, but I could read them. And that’s all you need to know how to do for the JLPT.

I also recommend reading flyers and business pages in Japanese. Usually at the end of the reading section, they will ask you a question that involves some “real-world” problem. For example, they might give you a timetable showing the hours of operation for a business, along with a few descriptive sentences under that. Then they’ll ask you about that. Or maybe they’ll give you a list with different gym membership prices vs benefits and ask you which one you sign up for if you want the most value, etc.

So learn those kanji and read, read, and read! Good luck with the test Miiko!

Hi there,
congratulations on passing the N3! About passing the N2 in 5 months…is it possible? The answer is yes, it is possible to pass the N2 after 5 more months of studying, since you already passed the N3. However, the more important question is why do you want to pass the N2? Do you NEED to pass the N2 by the next test date? If you absolutely need to pass the N2 the next time you take it (for a job, school, scholarship, etc.) then just study a few JLPT N2 books and read as much as you can. However, you said you really want to improve you speaking skills. Passing the N2 does help with this, since you do learn a lot of useful grammar and words you can use for daily speaking. But if you’re rushing to pass the test in 5 months, I really doubt that you are mastering all of the material. If becoming good at Japanese is your goal, then I highly, highly suggest that you concentrate on improving your speaking and reading skills. Only study for the JLPT N2 as a supplement for your learning. If you can afford it, finding an online tutor to help your speaking is the best way to learn. If you’re on a budget, I really like the lessons on Japanesepod101, or you can even practice speaking on your own (check out our speaking Japanese on your own guide).

Read as much as you can as well. Find blogs online in Japanese, or search for websites or videos in Japanese about things you are interested in. Look up any kanji or words you don’t know and then write them in a notebook so you can review them later. Not only will your reading skills improve, but you’ll also learn a lot of kanji and vocab though context.

Hope this helps!