JLPT 2006 - one week to go!

[zengargoyle]

i feel your pain.

i watch every Japanese language program that is available on my cable, tons of Anime, and on the whole i think i can understand the spoken language halfway decent (at least when i know what topic is being discussed). but the listening part of the JLPT test had me totally going "WTF?". for some reason the listening part of the test was *way* harder than watching a generic soap-opera or listening to a random podcast. i can't put my finger on "why?", but the listening was much more difficult than i expected... maybe speed of the speaking, or the vocabulary used, or the accent, or ... who knows?... but the listening part ****** me over bad.

the rest of the test was about as i expected. i know i have big holes in vocabulary, some of the questions i just didn't have a clue.... but the kanji part was much easier, and then the grammar wasn't that bad, but sometimes i just decided that the other answer options just didn't sound right when placed in the question. and the reading material was *almost* as easy as English. the reading comprehension part was as straightforward and comprehensible to the same extent that the listening part of the test wasn't comprehensible.

about all i can really discern is that when the kanji density in the questions increased i found the questions easier to answer. those vocabulary questions that were hiragana heavy were difficult. and the listening section was just *out of this world*.

there's probably a chance that the grammar and reading parts may be enough to pull up my score, but i really doubt i passed. (unless i somehow *understood* the listening part without being conscious of understanding). the listening part was full of "WTF?" moments.

edit: oh yeah, ...
in LA, there were 2 rooms for L1, 2 for L2, 3 for L3. and 5 for L4.

~120 L1 people
~114 L2 people
~136 L3 people
~160 L4 people

tests were held in our *mostly* language/humanities building, some levels got the bigger auditorium like rooms, and some levels were split to fit into the normal classroom sized rooms. there were only about 55 people in my room, and a half a dozen or so of them didn't show up. there were a few *older* people, a bunch of college/high school aged people and a suprising number of <13yr old kids in my L3 room.... and 4 "left-handed" people..

[AussieB]

I am looking for anyone elseo out ther in cyber space who sat 1 kyu yesterday.
If you have a photographic memory that would be extremely useful , but otherwise just to chat about the exam would be great.

Thanks
B

[natemb]

I took the 2kyuu in Kyoto. We are towards the end of the beautiful fall foliage season, and I have been holed up in my room for the past two weeks finishing my kanji studying and practicing the reading section. Unfortunately, I don't have enough time to read all of the passages, the questions, and the answer choices at my reading speed, so I had to use a short-cut method.

I just looked at the questions, read the underlined passage, one or two sentences before or after, and then read all of the answer choices carefully. One thing I noticed is you can often eliminate 1 or 2 answers without reading the passage at all, because they are ridiculous or overstated. This strategy can really backfire, though, because sometimes you can miss the whole point of the essay! I also did the grammar first, then the reading, and finished with 5 minutes to spare, but when I went back to reread the first reading question, I immediately found two mistakes, because I had rushed the question and not understood. (which means there were probably many more mistakes on the other questions) So I'm kind of stumped as to what's the best strategy for that part (other than, of course, improving my reading speed).

On a side note, did anyone else find it ironic that the first passage you read when you sit down after lunch to take the last part of the test is about napping??

As for the listening, there were definitely some where I had no clue, but I'm lucky enough to be surrounded by the language every day at work, so I could follow most of it (except for the standard informal speech, which I almost never hear here in Kansai!)

All in all, I'm guessing I got somewhere in the high 60s, but it's possible that I missed the point on more of those reading questions. Well, only 2 1/2 more months to wait!

[paul_b]

natemb wrote:
Well, only 2 1/2 more months to wait!

You should get it sooner than those abroad.

[natemb]

paul_b wrote:
You should get it sooner than those abroad.

My booklet says the middle of February, and if I don't receive it by Feb 19, I can officially start harassing them. Can I expect it earlier, or are you saying that people abroad have to wait even longer?

[paul_b]

natemb wrote:

paul_b wrote:
You should get it sooner than those abroad.

My booklet says the middle of February, and if I don't receive it by Feb 19, I can officially start harassing them. Can I expect it earlier, or are you saying that people abroad have to wait even longer?

I got mine around the 1st of March (IIRC, WIMN).

[natemb]

paul_b wrote:
I got mine around the 1st of March (IIRC, WIMN).

Wow! I guess I can't complain, you all have it even worse! So much for taking the test to find out your level... Unless you take a 3 month study break, the score won't even apply any more by the time it arrives!

But I shouldn't be negative. For me, the biggest value of this test was having a specific goal to shoot for. When I decided to take this test 10 months ago, I hadn't taken any JLPT before. I took a practice test, and it looked like I just might be able to pass 3 kyuu. But when I tried some 2kyuu questions I got worse than random guessing, and it seemed impossibly far off. But I decided to go for it anyway, and I can honestly say that even if I fail, I won't consider this test a waste of time or money, because my Japanese ability has really taken a jump in the time since I decided to take it! Hopefully I'll keep the momentum going!

Anyway, good luck to all the other people waiting. I hope the news is good when it finally arrives!

[KNH]

zengargoyle wrote: i watch every Japanese language program that is available on my cable, tons of Anime, and on the whole i think i can understand the spoken language halfway decent (at least when i know what topic is being discussed). but the listening part of the JLPT test had me totally going "WTF?". for some reason the listening part of the test was *way* harder than watching a generic soap-opera or listening to a random podcast. i can't put my finger on "why?"

Dude, I feel the same exact way. I feel I watched enough JDrama and enough anime to at least do ok on the listening comprehension. Well, I kinda did ok on mondai I. It's just mondai II that messed me up.

Also, I've never studied 食料品 before. I'm just happy I knew how to read that.

[Schattenjedi]

zengargoyle wrote:
about all i can really discern is that when the kanji density in the questions increased i found the questions easier to answer. those vocabulary questions that were hiragana heavy were difficult.

I felt the same way about 2kyuu. I need to start showing hiragana words some more love.

On a different note, did anyone else have any braindead people in their testing rooms? By braindead I mean they didn't turn off their mobiles despite being told to do so at least 3 times. It happened to 1 of the girls in my room during the last section. I think the whole classroom collectively rolled their eyes when her phone rang. The proctor came over and said "sorry, you have to leave" and that was that. Some people.

[Yudan Taiteki]

Saiaku_Akuma wrote:
[
Dude, I feel the same exact way. I feel I watched enough JDrama and enough anime to at least do ok on the listening comprehension.

Watching drama or anime with subtitles does very little for your listening comprehension, unfortunately. If you watched them without subtitles and understood a significant portion of it, I would be surprised if you didn't do well on the listening section -- however, the questions on the listening portion of the JLPT will generally be using more standard and basic vocabulary than anime does.

[tanuki]

flammable hippo wrote:
just as a side note, I would have guessed for some reason that you would have been taking 2級. You seem really educated about Japanese.

I'm not even at 3級 level! For some reason, people tend to overestimate me (not with Japanese, but with other things).

Anyway, something I found a bit depressing was seeing all the little kids taking 2級 and thinking "wow, I wonder if I'll ever attempt 2級" (and I mean attempt with hopes of passing, of course ).

[Schattenjedi]

tanuki wrote:

flammable hippo wrote:
just as a side note, I would have guessed for some reason that you would have been taking 2級. You seem really educated about Japanese.

I'm not even at 3級 level! For some reason, people tend to overestimate me (not with Japanese, but with other things).

Anyway, something I found a bit depressing was seeing all the little kids taking 2級 and thinking "wow, I wonder if I'll ever attempt 2級" (and I mean attempt with hopes of passing, of course ).

You said yourself that you knew all but 1 word you encountered in 4kyuu. That probably means it was too easy for you. I took 2kyuu and ran into at least a dozen words that I didn't know. But that wasn't even so much of a problem. Thanks to Kanji and context I was able to figure out most of them.

[paul_b]

Schattenjedi wrote:
You said yourself that you knew all but 1 word you encountered in 4kyuu. That probably means it was too easy for you. I took 2kyuu and ran into at least a dozen words that I didn't know. But that wasn't even so much of a problem.

Well I've got JLPT level 1 so I probably know double what all u know combined.

[Schattenjedi]

paul_b wrote:

Schattenjedi wrote:
You said yourself that you knew all but 1 word you encountered in 4kyuu. That probably means it was too easy for you. I took 2kyuu and ran into at least a dozen words that I didn't know. But that wasn't even so much of a problem.

Well I've got JLPT level 1 so I probably know double what all u know combined.

I don't doubt it.

(Sorry, didn't mean to turn this into a JLPT pissing contest.)

[tanuki]

paul_b wrote:
Well I've got JLPT level 1 so I probably know double what all u know combined.

Erm, no.

1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 4
1級 + 1級 + 1級 + 1級 = 4級

That means that I probably know double double what only u know uncombined.