2011 JLPT dates and test site cities

Dates

1st test Sunday, July 3

2nd test Sunday, December 4

1st test site cities

Japan: 34 prefectures
Overseas: 97 cities in 20 countries/areas

Test sections and test times

Level Test sections Test time

Listening
N1 Language Knowledge(Vocabulary/Grammar)Reading 110min
60min

Listening
N2 Language Knowledge(Vocabulary/Grammar)Reading 105min
50min

Language
Language Listening
N3 Knowledge(Grammar)Reading
Knowledge(Vocabulary)30min 40min
70min

Language
Language Knowledge(Vocabulary) Listening
N4 Knowledge(Grammar)Reading
30min 35min
60min

Language
Language Knowledge(Vocabulary) Listening
N5 Knowledge(Grammar)Reading
25min 30min
50min
*The time allotted for each section may change. The time allotted for the Listening section may
differ slightly according to the length of the recorded materials.

Composition of test items

Questions in each test section are categorized into type of test items according to competence
to be measured. Each test item type contains multiple questions. Purposes of test item types
are determined for each level.

Test section Type of test items N1 N2 N3 N4 N5

Kanji reading

Orthography

Word formation

Vocabulary
Contextually-defined

expressions

Paraphrases

Language Usage
Knowledge

Sentential grammar 1
Reading
(Selecting grammar form)

Grammar Sentential grammar 2

(Sentence composition)

Text grammar

Comprehension

(Short passages)
Reading
Comprehension

(Mid-size passages)
 Comprehension

(Long passages)

Integrated comprehension

Thematic comprehension

(Long passages)

Information retrieval

Task-based comprehension

Comprehension of key

points

Comprehension of general

Listening outline

Verbal expressions

Quick response

Integrated comprehension

Links to purposes of test item types for each level