掲示板 Forums - JLPT N4 Prep in 6 Weeks: Am I on Track? (Need Advice)

Hello everyone!

I'm scheduled to take the JLPT N4 exam on December 7th and I'm looking for some realistic advice on my current study progress and whether I can make it in time.

I've been using Renshuu (or similar apps/books) to study.

Here is my current status:

• Exam Date: December 7th (Approximately 6-7 weeks left)
• Vocabulary (Word Count): I know about 500 words so far.
• Kanji: My kanji knowledge is quite weak, maybe around the N5 level at best.
• Grammar: I am familiar with roughly 15-20 basic grammar points/patterns.

My Questions for the Community:

1. Required Terms: How many vocabulary words (goi), kanji characters, and essential grammar points are generally required to comfortably pass the N4? (I've seen conflicting numbers like 1,500 words and 170-300 kanji).
2. Is It Possible? Given my current starting point and the 6-7 week timeframe, is it realistically possible to cover the remaining material (especially the heavy focus needed on kanji and grammar)?
3. Study Priority: What should be my absolute number one priority right now? (e.g., focus solely on grammar, or a 50/50 split between vocabulary and kanji/grammar?)
4. Resource/Renshuu Tips: For those who passed the N4 recently, do you have any specific study tips, resources, or advice on how to use tools like Renshuu most effectively for a crash course?

Any honest feedback and encouragement would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

First thing you should do (in my opinion) is grab a couple past JLPT tests - one N5 and one N4. You can easily find them online. Try the N5 first; if you struggle, passing N4 in December is probably out of the question. If you do well, move on to N4, see where you stand and figure out your strengths and weaknesses.

Given where you're at right now, you'd need to study for a few hours every day to have any real shot at passing. Maybe focus on grammar, 15-20 grammar points is really low, even for N5.

Anyway, try a few practice tests to gauge your level, then just study as much as you can. Not impossible, but very tough.

PS: Keep in mind JLPT scores based on Item Response Theory (IRT), so past tests aren't a prefect predictor, but are still very useful.

Stepping aside from what everyone is saying, I would think about what you actually mean by "pass the n4", and what passing will accomplish for you.

A thought exercise - while it is technically possible to pass in that amount of time, this reminds me of I don't know how many students I taught who would cram over a short period of time, "pass" the test, but lose a huge amount of material because it hadn't really sunk into their heads (both the amount of information and the comprehension of said info).

Passing most tests (except for ones tied to, say, a job) mean nothing in and of themselves. If your goal is to get much better at Japanese, then you're goal isn't to pass the test as much as it is to use the test as a stepping stone along your journey.

If that is the case, then the realistic answer is: no, you cannot pass in that amount of time. You will most likely have one of the two occur (if you pass):

1. You forget a huge amount of the materials in the weeks/months after the test. You "passed" it, but it did not help much with your larger goal, and it may even hurt you by demotivating you.

2. You continue to study the N4 materials for a good amount of time after the test because you notice that you have a very loose grasp on it. In this scenario, you didn't really pass anything - you may have a piece of paper saying something, but you most likely will not feel it means anything until much later when you have mastery over those materials.

There's a lot of "maybe", "probably", etc. in the above, as no explanation can cover all learners. But I am going to presume that you want to keep going on with learning, and cramming or doing an unreasonable amount of work per day for your life is going to work against you, not for you. It's easier to burn out and get discouraged, and then if you DO study that much and then still fail the test, it's going to be a double punch.

I talked about this in a recent discord event, but for most people, the goal in learning is to NOT GIVE UP (this is the end result of the vast majority of language learners). Giving up is so likely that if you can avoid that, you will get better simply by not giving up. Most people do not stay with a language for years and years and say "I wish I had studied more, I am not satisfied with this". Most people give up because, among other reasons, they held themselves to unreasonable expectations, could not meet those expectations, and learning became a negative experience for them.

Actually, I agree with everything you said. learning Japanese is a passion of mine, which is why I chose it as my second language in university. However, I absolutely must pass this exam to graduate. I actually wanted to take the N5 exam, but since I couldn't find enough spots, I was forced to take the higher-level N4 exam, which is quite intimidating. If I fail this exam, I'll have to stay another year, and that will be a serious financial burden for me. Actually, I was a bit pessimistic in my first post. I can say I'm quite proficient in N5.

I agree with バッヅ regarding the schedule. The last thing you need to be doing the days before the exam is learning new material. Get it done in the next two weeks.

Yes, this is an unreasonable pace. Everyone agrees that it’s unreasonable, but it’s not impossible. You’re a college student. College students do six unreasonable things before breakfast. Go for it.

Well, the point is not really whether it's doable or a good thing to do or not anymore anyway...

One of the two main weakness of SRS (like Renshuu) is that they are unable to make good in the short term. The words are either study too soon or too late (because of random factor). In the long term, it works anyway because the prediction doesn't matter at that point.

A solution to that is to simply do some additional focus review. It will solve the problem of words that are studied too late (like words that need to be studied under 24h, 8h, etc). But at the same time, it can easily multiple your study time by 1,5 or 2. So if you overdo it, you will just burn out. You will also waste time and effort on words that are studied too soon but it will improve your retention. To do that you can do all of your daily review in the morning and then the focus review in the evening.

Another solution is to adjust the mastery manually. That the solution of algorithm like the one in Anki. Basically, you decide if a word feel too easy or too hard. But it's gamble. In the setting and quizzing section, you have a "When I answer something incorrectly" setting which have more or less the same effect. You can choose to drop the mastery to 0 or by a few levels (and solve the problem of words studied too late).

Besides that, well, writing is probably one the best way to remember words and kanjis but it's also the method that take the most time and effort. As for grammar, studying sentences is probably the most efficient imo. The basic vector in the sentence schedules don't take a lot of time and you can easily be exposed to the same grammar multiple until you somehow create some internal representation of how japanese works and make sense for you. And after, "knowing" what is a correct sentences by observing natural japanese, you can study grammar to learn how to explain why it work like or to correct your own sentences. If you have time before the exam. But before that, don't try to create your own sentences. Observe and imitate at most. Otherwise, you may develop bad habits.


And lastly, once you're done with this discussion, just forget about whether it's doable or not. Don't think about your financial situation too. Just study and rest properly. Watch something that make you really laugh or some cat video if you need too. Anything that can prevent you to think/worry about will happen later. Same when you're studying, just study and don't bother when you can't remember everything or not. That will happen but worrying about the details won't change anything except making you waste some time thinking about it.

Anyway, good luck