Writing the JLPT 3

This past weekend was the first weekend in December. Every year, that's a huge weekend for wannabe Nihongo speakers because that first weekend in December is always reserved for for test takers of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test.

It was a cold-ish day ... I started from my apartment with the temperature at 5 degrees C and the apparent high of the day was still only 8 degrees C. While slightly warmer than the average daily temperature in the land of my upbringing, Canada, it still felt chilly compared to the heat and humidity of the summer months. However, the day was sunny, which I took to be a good sign.

Apparently, there are many JLPT test sites scattered throughout Japan. Silly me... I had thought I could meet up with my other friends who were also taking the test on the same day and at the same time. All of them end up writing the exam in another location. I was lucky enough to get a test site that was in my home ward. Albeit, the site was in the polar opposite corner of where I was in the ward, but total travel time in transite was only about 7 or 9 minutes. With all the walking and waiting included, it was probably a good 25 minutes to get to the site and into my room and my appointed chair.

I have to say... it seemed a bit easier than I expected. Not that I'm super-good at Nihongo(or English for that matter), but I think my expectations were slightly skewed by taking the practise (mock) test 2 weeks earlier. I signed up to take the mock test about 2.5 months ago, but apparently we weren't to be notified until the week before the exam. So I signed up ... and promptly forgot about it. In the week before the mock test, I opened up my mailbox to find a letter instructing me of the time and place, and other miscellaneous things, for the mock test. So I followed all the instructions and showed up on the day.

I guess the thing with the mock test is that they were using all of use test-takers as guinea pigs for changing the levels in the JLPT levelling. Currently there are 4 levels, 1 through 4, with level 4 being the easiest level. There are only about 100 kanji required to know for level 4 and the easiest and most basic forms of speech and grammar points. Level 3 requires about 250-300 kanji (depending on what guidebooks you read) and the start of more complex parts of speech and higher politeness levels. Level 2 is where the huge jump comes in. To pass you are required to know 1000-1200 kanji and very complex written and spoken grammar points. When taking the test, apparently, the kanji recognition section gives you 4 entirely plausible choices for the optional reading of the given kanji. Whereas in Level 3, there might be 2 close answers, but in most cases, there is only 1 truly correct answer and no other choice even coming close.

You may be able to see where I am leading up to with all this background. Basically, the mock test was given such that the questions and answers were at a level somewhere between the current levels 3 and 2. So, I panicked after the mock test, and probably overstudied for the actual Level 3.

I don't think I passed with flying colours. I don't think that's a possibility for me since I seem to have a lot of trouble distinguising between all the sounds and phrases when they are spoken at native speed. However, I wrote the exam comfortably. I had no idea what the answers to some of the questions were, and I accidentally flipped two pages at a time during the listening section, which flustered me and I'm sure caused me a few points.

Having said all that, I am definitely glad I did not sit to write for JLPT 2 as I'm sure that all my vacationing in the last month and a half would have been a lot more stressful if I had known that I was going to come back to write for JLPT 2.

The test itself was long. The first of the 3 timed tests starts at 9:45 am and the final test ends about 2:30 pm. There is a 30 minute break after the first test and a 1 hour break after the 2nd test for lunch. At the start of each of the 3 timed sections, there is an automated, recorded message. They even have the people up front doing a demonstration with yellow cards and red cards. I almost laughed out loud when I saw that. It's a language test for crying out !!! It's not a soccer match ... but it seems that in the past thicker skulls have prevailed and hence these rules.

Next year, there will also be a sitting in June or July for Levels 1 and 2, but I'm not sure about levels 3 or 4. It seems that there's a lot more grammar to be learnt for Level 2, but I'm game... I may not be ready, but game I am!!!