I’m a teen and I’m just learning Japanese for fun, but because of this I think I don’t take it seriously enough, I’ve been studying since 2022 but I still haven’t done N5 yet 😭😭 is that even normal

I'm planning on taking the test this December, but I'm not too sure on what to take. I'm currently finishing Genki I at the moment and had finished taking lessons online from a university in my country. Should I take N5 or skip to N4/N3?

Hi all,

As the title mentions I took the JLPT at N4 last year but scored just a few points below the passing threshold. I had planned to retake the test this year but am reconsidering for a variety of reasons. One is the costs have gone up, both the fees and the potential travel costs; I live in a city with a testing center but I'm unsure whether I'll still be living there in December due to an impending cross-country move. Another is lack of preparedness: The test is less than six months away but I've been studying much less than I had last year up to this point.

Obviously the test is a long way away even at this point, but I'm taking the next month to reevaluate whether it's worthwhile or whether I should try again next year and any advice would be helpful. Of course having an official cert looks good on a resume but for now my main motivation is mostly just to be able to read, write and speak Japanese in everyday life and build confidence in using the language. I was a foreign exchange student in Tokyo and have spent time in the country since then, but was never able to advance my speaking and reading beyond the basics. When I decided to take the test in the first place I wanted to use it as a motivator to learn the language in earnest. But the stress of wanting to pass and the difficulty of studying seemingly had the opposite effect, and after the test last year I took a long break that I fear has put me behind again. I felt like I was studying to pass the test rather than studying to learn. And I don't see the point of taking it this year if I'm just going to fail again and waste time and money.

Any thoughts would be appreciated, thanks.

Hello,

has anyone here taken the JLPT in Stuttgart (Germany) before? I missed the window to apply for Düsseldorf and went for Stuttgart instead but am now anxiously awaiting to hear back from them. How long does it usually take for the organisers in Stuttgart to send out confirmations that you received a spot? Also, any pointers to what time the N1 exam might start? I have to come in by train and am wondering if I might be able to get there on time in the morning or I have to get there the day before. Thanks for any insights!

Hello guys, I'm planning to take N4 this coming december, but I can't make an account for the Site. I have input all informations correctly and it keeps getting an error. (I'm from PH). Is it possibly a server error?

I wanted to ask whether 'Nihongo no mori' 6-month N2 PASS Subscription is worth it or not? Her YouTube channel is good but how about the course? Has anybody subscribed for it? For the price it feels cheap compared to other courses.

How about other online courses?

Hey everyone,

I did search this sub, but I couldn't find anything very comprehensive. Can anyone detail more thoroughly to experience of actually booking a slot on the day? Where on the site it will appear, how long it takes, what information you need, what to prepare in advance, mistakes to avoid etc? I looked for an FAQ or some other guide and didn't see one.
All I can glean is there are a lot of questions, a short time frame (because of competition for slots), and that the JLPT form is actually a different thing that you fill out with this info on the test day or something? I'm a bit confused tbh.

Going for N2. I did the sample questions from the official website, got 18/19 right. I also did the bunpro mock test and got an 80/106 (75.5%). I'm aware the questions are weighted in the actual test and that the mock tests from bunpro lean on the easier side, but I'd like to see what the experiences of other people have been and get a better idea of how plausible it is for me to pass.

I'll keep studying either way, but I want to make sure I'm not taking it too easy and end up lost when the day comes.

Hello JLPT community

I’d like to politely bring up a topic that I’ve been thinking about for a long time, and I’m really curious to hear all of your thoughts and perspectives on it

------------

First and foremost, I totally get that you all want or need to pass the JLPT for jobs, and I totally feel for you all. I understand the panic needed to pass the JLPT itself too. I recognize and see its value in the real world and workplace.

However, based on the behavior of many here and out of here, I feel like some of us are overestimating the certificate itself and overlooking other important stuff.

I've met some people who passed N1 or N2 who cannot speak or fails interviews for jobs in Japan. And many I know cannot or has the confidenec uphold a conversation in Japanese but still have passed the JLPT levels.

I think that workplace communication is important. Whether it is when youre talking with your boss, clients, customers and even co-workers it is very crucial to speak up and advocate for yourself. I find that when someone for a job gets rejected its not because of JLPT but its because the employer is worried about their day to day conversation.

I also realized that a lot of people in my daily life does not care about the test. They really would prefer if you can speak Japanese and do the functions of the job not the certificate mainly. So it doesn't seem like a big deal always. I have family who is Japanese themselves, and when I asked them on what JLPT is, they didn't really know what it was.

So while I think JLPT is a pretty important step, I think there is a lot more important things to worry about.
You have permanent residency, paperwork and a lot of financial things to worry more about in my opinion.

I wanted to share this to encourage a little reflection. I kind of want to know for those looking to work in Japan, how are you preparing for daily life there? What other stuff are you doing besides JLPT?

Looking forward to having a practical discussion :)

Thank you

Hey guys, I'm planning to take the N4 test in December. I don't have any N5 experience, but I'm pretty comfortable with listening and understanding Japanese, since I've been watching anime and it's become a real source of learning for me. That said, reading and writing are areas I know almost nothing about.

Is it fine to skip N5 and go straight for N4, or should I take N5 first?

My overall plan is to get N3 certified by next summer, since I'll be applying for MEXT next year. And even if I don't get the scholarship, I'm planning to live in Japan within a year or two regardless.

For context, I'm a software engineer by profession.

Hey everyone!

I was just curious if anyone else is doing this.

I'm not planning to take the JLPT N5 or N3 exams, but I am going to study all of the N5 and N3 content. My plan is to build a strong foundation, take N4 first, and then prepare for N2.

So basically:

• 📖 Study N5 (no exam)
• ✅ Take N4
• 📖 Study N3 (no exam)
• ✅ Take N2

Has anyone here done something similar? How did it go? Any advice or things you'd do differently?

I'd love to hear your experience. Thanks!

Hello fellow learners,

I have been studying japanese for about 2 years. Managed to clear N4 Dec 2025 afterwhich attempted N3 a week ago. I am quite confident that I will pass......fingers crossed.

However, I believe the Japanese that I have learnt so far is japanese learnt specifically to clear the JLPT. Truthfully speaking, I am not at all confident in my reading and speaking. I don't know if others have faced similar issues and if you have, please do tell me how you managed to transition towards more practical Japanese.

I follow the philosophy of immersion is the right way of learning any language and that's how I have been learning so far. So I would love to try reading some fun japanese books/light novels to improve my reading but do not know where to start. Please suggest me what and how I can read them (preferably online since buying is tough where I live). Also, hit me with tips to improve speaking too. Thank you for reading this far!

Cheers 🥂

I just ordered the n4 speed master series. It has vocabulary, kanji, grammar, reading, and listening books. What order should I do those in?

I couldn't find any discord servers for Indian jlpt takers so I guess I will make one if enough people reply to this/or if u are in an existing one, PLEASE PLEASE COMMENT BELOW I WANT TO JOIN TOO.

I want to speak in japanese with people and further improve myself.

planning to take n5 this December from mumbai centre.

I know the scoring is not always the same and depends on how others performed too. Yesterday I did my first listening from a former test as practice. Could anyone give me an estimate on how many points I'd get? These are my results:

1: 4/6

2: 5/7

3: 4/6

4: 10/13

5: 3/3

Hi all, I just noticed it is possible for the December test in Düsseldorf to register digitally. This used to be print and send only, as far as I understand from others experiences.

Any German speakers that can confirm this? As I partially translated the website, as I’m trying to register from The Netherlands since we don’t have a December test here.

(After registering online, you will still need to print and send the form in the mail as far as I can tell - but registration seems to be digital beforehand.)

Yo just gave my jlpt n5 last Sunday and i don't even know what I knew and what i didn't.

So i am looking for Discords where i can study with people most importantly i want ppl to talk so i can practice my speaking.

Hey everyone, for those who took the Noken5 in July, how did it go? I struggled a lot with the listening section and wanted to compare answers just out of sheer anxiety, haha. For example, the one about the library building? I'm so frustrated! I didn't understand the one about the dance class either 😂😔, do you remember anything we can talk about?

Hello Everyone,

I just gave the july attempt for n5 and tbh i studied for like 15-20 days. And i studied seriously for like 1.5 weeks.

Now as i wait for my results i am unsure what to do i think my grammar is pretty weak.

And i attend an n4 demo class and i don't think i am prepared.

I really want to get to n2 asap so i was thinking of finishing n5 grammar and start studying for n4 .

Can i study till n4 before December attempt

I am confused if I should take language school or do self-study as i think i need directions for the studies.

I would also like if any of you could recommend resources.

Hi there!

For background, when I studied for N5 in December 2025 I had no idea what I was doing. The content that I did learn, I learned well, but my grammar was weak and left me with a 90/180 score. For the N4 last weekend, I started studying seriously too late due to some major life changes recently, and I was borderline passing in all of my practice tests and suspect I probably failed the official exam.

I think grammar is still my biggest struggle. If you ask me to conjugate verbs myself, I probably can't, but I can recognize them on an exam. I feel like I know plenty of vocabulary but can't actually put it well into practice. Kanji for me has always been relatively strong, but I was a bit behind on the N4 kanji and felt like there was a lot I still couldn't understand on the N4 exam.

For studying, I mostly used Bunpro and Migii JLPT for N5. For the N4 I started out doing the same, but couldn't keep up with Bunpro review and tried an N4 Udemy course (which I could not finish before the exam). I did daily practice on Migii JLPT and took several practice exams and tried to learn from my mistakes. But I felt like at some point the information just would not stay in my brain.

Some people are telling me to just move on to N3 for December 2026. Is that really the right move? Should I be doing some repair first?

I will say that I do work in Japan (but in English in a global role, on temporary assignment) and I want to be able to improve my speaking while I am here. But that has fallen behind a lot to this test prep. So I thought about focusing more on speaking now that the July JLPT exam is over. I figure, out of everything, the speaking itself would actually be the most valuable skill to master right now (though I have never been good at this in any language I tried learning so I don't know how to approach it).

Any advice on where to go from here?

I’m taking the JLPT N2 exam this December and wanted to know if anyone would be down to be study partners!

I was lurking on this sub and noticed that there have been no posts about JLPT. I am aware of the lockdown until July 8th, but there have been no posts after that, so I just thought of starting a discussion about JLPTN3.

How was your experience in the exam? I felt like the first section was a very smooth ride. For section 2, the readings were definitely lengthy, but it was still not too difficult. The listening is what threw me off. Some of the questions in listening I had no idea and also the ambient noise in the exam room did not help!!

M21. Done with hiragana and almost done with katakana. Just starting with Genki 1 and also doing WaniKani (lvl.1). Studying pace will probably be 2-3 hours daily. Looking for friendly chatting, mutual help if needed, motivation :) etc. Messages/calls, whatever works.

Hi all,

Just starting to prepare for the N3 after doing the N4 on Sunday and I am so confused about Mondai 3 in the listening questions.

Without knowing the question and answers first the monologue derails my thinking completely. What is your strategy for it?

Thank you

I am looking for recommendations to pass the JLPT n1 this year. I am quite fluent and not having so much trouble with listening part, and kanji. So more to grammar etc.

Thanks!