A Guide to Passing JLPT N2 (2kyuu)

Passing the JLPT is very helpful if you are thinking of using Japanese in your career.

 N2 is the second hardest level, in which only around 30% of people pass. The way I passed the test is not the only way, but it worked for me, and I do believe anyone can pass it if they have the motivation. When I passed I had some things that were not in my favor:

• It was my first JLPT, so I didn't know much of what to expect.
• I was a fulltime college student, leaving less time for Japanese,
• I didn't live in Japan, meaning I needed to use a lot of English in my daily life.

In spite of these things, I passed, and I believe you can too.

The exam is divided into three parts: Vocabulary/Grammar, Reading, and Listening. I will address each part separately, but first, a few things it's good to have done before studying.

Before studying for the exam, finish these:
Remembering the Kanji I
Core 2000/6000 Anki deck or equivalent
Basic grammar, such as in Tae Kim's Guide.

To study for the exam, you will need:
Kanzen Master Grammar 2kyuu (or the new N2 one)
Anki
An N2 Anki vocabulary deck (I used the "Playsay" one)
Lots of native media and books
A book of mock tests for the new test (I used this one)
Past tests

Optional:
Other JLPT prep books
A smart phone with an EPWING reader and text reader app/A denshi jisho



Vocabulary/Grammar: 
Complete the N2 vocabulary Anki deck (adding sentences/deleting words you already know as necessary). If you are using a vocabulary prep book as well, after you complete it, cross check the words that you learn with the Anki deck, and learn any new words. Prioritize vocabulary over everything, even grammar, and SRS words that you pick up from Japanese media/books. Vocabulary is likely the single most important thing to know for the test, and if you pick it up from native media, most of the things on the test will seem really easy, almost dumbed down easy.


For grammar, go through Kanzen Master, SRSing all the sentences and making vocab cards for any new words. Make sentences of your own using the grammar points if that helps. I find it helpful to add sound (via the GoogleTTS plugin, or another way), and repeat sentences after the sound for it plays. Also, I should warn you that Kanzen Master's explanations often leave something to be desired, so I ended up adding explanations from kokugo dictionaries, the "Green Goddess" Kenkyuusha dictionary, Niwasaburoo's guide, and 日本語表現文型辞典 to the back of my cards.


Reading: 
There are two main schools of thought when it comes to reading:

1. The "Read without using a dictionary" method, AKA Tadoku.
2. The "Look up every word you don't know" method.

While I think both methods of reading are can be useful, and my limited use of them changes depends on the type of book I read, I recommend against using the first method a lot when studying for the JLPT, as books are a huge source of potential vocabulary. 


What I did was a technique I learned from someone I know who is fluent in English & Japanese.
It involves reading each page three times.

1. Read normally and don't look up any words.
2. Read/scan the page, and look up new words
3. Read the page as quickly as possible

Now, different things work for different people, but this did really help my reading speed, and build my vocabulary, and it doesn't take as long as it sounds, but I don't think it matters how you read too much, as long as you read something in Japanese everyday, and keep SRSing words. I would make sure at least some of what you read is actually on paper, printed vertically, as people read differently on screens and paper (I read faster on paper), and a lot of the reading passages have vertical text. As for what and how to read, I'd recommend essays and literature. I just read literature, because I really like it, and passed, but most of the reading passages on the test are essays.

Now, I have heard of some people who passed the test by reading manga. While it is great to read manga, and I am a huge fan of it myself (and read some between practicing for the test), it is very important to get used to reading books. A lot of people run out of time on the reading section, I finished it with 20 minutes to go because I was used to reading, scanning, and speed reading in Japanese. If I read something that is hard to put down, I read faster, so find something that really interests you, and if you pick up a book, and it turns out to be boring, find another. Amazon.co.jp's book recommendations are pretty good for finding similar books to those you already like.


One thing that makes reading a lot a little easier is to have text books on your smartphone, so you can carry them anywhere. I bought a Blackberry (without a phone plan) to solely use as a text reader/EPWING viewer, but most smartphones with apps likely have text reader and EPWING reader apps. These are the popular ones I know of:


 Text Readers:
iOS: iBunko, Skybook
Android: Vertical Text Viewer
Blackberry: Mobipocket
Other smart phones: Mobipocket


EPWING viewers:

iOS: EBPocket Free & Pro
Android: Droidwing
Blackberry: EBReader
Other smartphones: EBPocket


Note that I have not tested any of these except the Blackberry ones, but the rest are pretty popular, and they are frequently recommended on the Koohii forums.

If you have a smartphone with a some of the apps mentioned above, try to spend most free moments when you have nothing to do (i.e waiting in line, taking a train, etc) reading a book. I only bought a smartphone after taking the JLPT, but it would have made the act of reading frequently much easier then.


Listening:
Listening is the part of the test that people can't really "study" as much for, as each audio track is only played once, followed by a brief silence for people to write down their answers before the next track begins.
The result is that, unlike all of the other sections, there is not much time to think. You either know it or you don't. One thing that can help though is to listen to as much natural Japanese as you can. Most of the audio tracks either sound like conversations, or something you would hear on the news. I made a habit of playing podcasts staring more than one person, and TV news streams. If you can follow along with both these kinds of media, then passing the listening section is a matter of how much vocabulary you know, as the tracks themselves are slower than most media. Try to vary the types of media you listen to as well. I am a big fan of anime, and watched a lot of it in between studying for the test, but I didn't consider it "studying for the test" because anime is usually slower (either that, or much, much faster) than unscripted Japanese, and usually not formal enough to be like something on the news, so I didn't consider any scripted media besides the news to be "studying for the test", though others may think differently. That doesn't mean you can't watch it for Japanese immersion (or just plain fun) though.

One thing to pay attention to during the listening test is the sound of people laughing. Some of the possible answers usually contrast so much with the question, that they are pretty funny, and stressed test takers will laugh at anything even remotely funny, so hearing the sound of laughter can help limit off choices if you are getting stuck.


General advice:
Do mock tests and past tests so you know what the question formats are like. Native media is great and all, but you need to know the test as well. It's fine to start off not having the tests timed, to see how you would do under no pressure, but be sure to do some in similar conditions to the test, and that includes time limits.
In the end, all the test is doing is saying is "this test is a little easier than most works intended for native Japanese people, do you understand it?" To pass it, you will need to understand around 80%-90% of most (non-technical) media, and that's the real reward.