How I Passed the JLPT

N5 and N4 Exams
The Japanese Language Proficiency exam (JLPT), or 「日本語能力試
験」as it is called in Japanese, was something I had been aware
of since my teens. I always wanted to take it, but growing up in
Newfoundland meant I knew it was something I would have to
spend a lot of money on—the nearest testing location was, and
still is, in Toronto. Spending the money on flights, hotels, and
everything else just to take a low-level exam that I may or may
not pass was pretty much out of the question for me, so I
shrugged it off as being pointless.

My conclusion of it being pointless probably affected my desire

to learn Japanese in the first place. I always wanted to learn the
language, and first dug in when I was around sixteen years old.
At that age, unfortunately, I had no idea what I was doing.

Sure, I picked up a few words here and there from anime and
music, but when it came to grammar and kanji, I just couldn’t
stick with it for more than a couple of weeks. Every couple of
years I’d try again—maybe this would be the year I’d stick with
it? Nope—each time I failed. My most serious attempt was in
2012 when I bit the bullet and shelled out for a private Japanese
tutor as a New Year’s Resolution. I was working at the time and
freelancing in the evenings, so even that became overwhelming
very quickly and I quit after just a month. I was really starting to
think I wasn’t cut out for language learning in general. I took
French for ten years in school and couldn’t speak it, so why did I
think Japanese would be any different?

Fast forward to 2015 when I moved to the UK. We were planning

a trip to Japan in March of 2016 so I knew it was time to pick up
the books again, even if it was to learn just a few basic survival
phrases. Then I remembered that I lived just two hours by train
away from London—the home of a JLPT testing centre. I signed
up for the N5 exam in August and studied my butt off for three
and a half months for the exam in December. I wasn’t sure if I
was being crazy to take on that much in such little time, but the
deadline really changed the way I thought about learning
Japanese and pushed me to keep going.

I passed my N5 exam and it felt amazing. Maybe I could learn

this after all. It’s now over a year later, and I’m pleased to say
I’ve passed my N4 exam as well and slowly but surely pushing
toward N3. I learned a lot not just about Japanese, but about my
study methods and how to stay motivated. Hopefully some of
these tips will help you, too.

Grammar

I already had two textbooks to choose from in my library—Genki

I, An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese , and Minna no
Nihongo . Both books have their strengths and weaknesses, but
in the end I decided to go with Genki as it was a little less
intimidating for self-learners. The main Minna no Nihongo
textbook is entirely in Japanese and requires the use of a second
translated guide to follow along with. While this is great if you
have a teacher, I didn’t want the extra complication of having to
look up explanations, so I went with Genki. I also love
the accompanying workbook and CDs which are essential in
testing what you’ve learned. If you use Genki, these additional
workbooks are a must, as is the answer key . They’re an
expensive investment but absolutely worth the money if you’re
serious about learning Japanese.

As a rule of thumb, for N5 you should finish all of Genki I, and for
N4, you should finish all of Genki II plus a few additional
grammar points. I’ve just started in on the Japan Times’
Intermediate Guide to Japanese , so I’m looking forward to seeing
where that takes me for N3.

In addition, A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar published

by The Japan Times has been absolutely essential in my
learning. Occasionally, Genki does not do the greatest job at
explaining a grammar point, so a copy of this book will do
wonders for in-depth explanation and helping you connecting the
dots. Highly, highly recommended.
For online resources, have a look through the very popular Tae
Kim’s Guide to Learning Japanese . Again, if there’s something
you don’t understand in Genki, you can read through his
explanations which often put things in a different perspective.
He also does a great job at covering more casual, spoken forms
of grammar that formal textbooks don’t focus on. The best part
is, it’s free.

Vocabulary and Kanji

While it’s incredibly important to learn kanji for daily life in

Japan, if you’re studying for the lower levels of the JLPT like N5
and N4, I would discourage you from spending all of your time
trying to go above and beyond what’s recommended for these
levels. One of the biggest mistakes I made in studying for the N5
exam was spending too much time on WaniKani , a website for
learning kanji. It actually worked so well for me that I kept going
and going—unfortunately, what I didn’t realize is that kanji is
actually used quite sparingly on the actual exam itself. I wish I’d
learned just the recommended kanji for each level and spent
more time learning grammar and working on my reading and
listening comprehension. As a result, while I completely rocked
the kanji and vocabulary section on the actual exam, my reading
speed was quite slow and I barely had time to mark the last
answer on my sheet.

I like to study vocabulary and kanji hand-in-hand to reinforce my

memory. One thing to note is that the Genki textbooks alone
aren’t enough to cover all the vocabulary required for the N5
and N4 exams. I rounded out my knowledge with vocabulary
courses on Memrise . There are plenty of good vocabulary sets to
study, but I mostly used the sets created by JTalkOnline: JLPT
N5 and JLPT N4 .

Memrise also has good kanji courses such as this one from JLPT
Bootcamp . What I really like about these courses is that it
teaches the vocabulary word in kana, and then reinforces that
knowledge with the kanji. Learning kanji by memorizing the
readings isn’t the most practical method of learning, in my
opinion, and I feel that it’s always better to learn kanji through
vocabulary to help those meanings sink in.
For those who do like to memorize readings, StickyStudy for iOS
is a great app and contains both vocabulary and kanji lists for a
variety of exams.

Listening & speaking

Although there is no speaking component to the JLPT exams at

any level, it’s an essential part of learning practical Japanese
and it will help you build your listening skill at the same time.

First, please don’t rely on learning spoken Japanese from anime.

It’s not going to help you pass any exams, and if you spoke this
way in Japan, you’d be sure to get a few looks. Dramas and films
are better choices, but even then I’d recommend starting out
with resources that match your target exam level before getting
into bad habits.

Personally, I love:

 Hirogaru Nihongo , which has a variety of interesting articles

to follow along with.

 Japanese Pod 101 , which has more realistic practical

conversation

 NHK News Easy , which provides simpler versions of daily

news stories. Don’t get discouraged if you can’t understand
them—I would peg them being closer to upper N4-N3 level
in difficulty.

One of the most essential resources I use as a self-learner is a

website called italki . Here I practice speaking with a certified
Japanese teacher, although you can also find conversation
partners who are happy to help you speak Japanese as long as
you help them learn English or whichever language you may
speak. My teacher is a native speaker originally from Kyoto. We
chat over Skype, which helps me get some speaking practice
when I normally have no opportunity to speak Japanese in my
daily life.

I have also been using the shadowing method of repeating text

to improve my pronunciation and ability to speak without
thinking. I’m currently working my way through a book
called Shadowing: Let's Speak Japanese! and my improvement is
already noticeable.

Other resources

I’m definitely the kind of person who retains more information by

writing out what I’ve learned. For that reason, I’m a huge fan of
flashcards. I use them to write out everything, from kanji to new
vocabulary to verb conjugations that I have trouble with. My
favourite are the most basic ring-bound flashcards from MUJI,
but you can make your own or order some online.

I also adore the series of graded readers available on White

Rabbit Japan. Each volume contains six small books and an audio
CD full of stories suited to a particular level from 0-4. You are
encouraged to read the book without the help of a dictionary—
even if you don’t know a word, the accompanying illustration
can help you learn new words and figure out the meaning
without having to look it up. I’ve found them to be very
rewarding indeed, and I’m looking forward to buying the next
level.

White Rabbit Japan has further books and resources that are
helpful. Here are more of my favourites:

 Ikki Ni Yomeru - Stories You Can Read Smoothly

 10-pun de Yomeru Monogatari - 1st Grade (Tales you can

read in 10 minutes)

 Cramming for JLPT N5 - Tanki Master JLPT N5

The last book is particularly helpful because you’re going to

want to make sure you take practice tests before the actual
exam day. Knowing what to expect and what type of questions
will appear on the exam is half the trouble—you’ll feel a lot more
relaxed when you open that exam paper if you’ve already
practiced to a clock.

Above all, my most important tip is to study every day. Not for
three hours in one session per week and then forget about it
until the next week, but every single day. Study doesn’t have to
be in the traditional sense—it can be anything—listening
practice, reviewing vocabulary, or even just writing and chatting
with Japanese friends. As long as you keep using the information
you’ve learned, the easier it will be for you to remember it.
Remember—learning a language, especially one such as
Japanese, is a tough road and it's going to take a long time and a
lot of work before you feel improvement. Sticking with it is key,
no matter how hard it gets.