はじめまして!

[ess_jay_arr]

Hi, I'm Stephen, or just Ste. I signed up for the kanji-a-day e-mails about two weeks ago, and since then I've been coming to this site most days. I usually check out the Newest Threads there on the left and there's always some useful information being passed around, so I thought I'd sign up and join in.

I haven't taken a JLPT yet, so I don't know exactly what level I'm at. I think I could probably pass the Level 4 test as I am now, so hopefully by the time December rolls around, I'll be able to skip it and take the Level 3 test.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to learning a lot from you guys, and hopefully I'll be able to help out some of the beginners myself.

よろしくね!

[tanuki]

Hello, Stephen J.R.!

You have plenty of time to prepare for level 3 until December, so go for it!

[ess_jay_arr]

Heh, well done, not everyone gets my screenname... including people who know me and should know what my initials are anyway.

Thanks for the encouragement. It is quite a while away, so I haven't really started thinking about it much yet, but do you happen to know a good online resource that gives some indication of what you can expect to find on the tests? Or do you know from experience, even?

I know that I'll need to know at least 300 kanji, but I don't think that should be too difficult with the time given. I know about 150 already. I wonder about the grammar though... I've read みんなの日本語II and I understood most of that. I've started reading it again to be sure. Should be easier now I can come to this forum with any problems.

I'm also concerned my vocabulary isn't as large as it could be. Anyone got any good tips for increasing it?

[tanuki]

do you happen to know a good online resource that gives some indication of what you can expect to find on the tests?

You might find these pages very helpful:

In this page you can find a list of things you have to know for each level (good for checking your grammar).

In the downloads section of the same site, you can find more JLPT-related things, like (REALLY important) vocabulary lists. Scroll down and see everything they got.

Here you can take weekly "placement tests" for levels 4, 3 and 2.

There's also another page with lots of JLPT info out there, but I don't what its...erm...status is right now.

I hope you found this helpful!

[ess_jay_arr]

Yep, that's pretty much exactly what I was looking for. Thanks very much!

I want to print out the Guide to passing JLPT pdfs... but Level 3 alone is 54 pages! Maybe I'll write it out instead... gradually... over the course of a few... months. :p