I have repeatedly noticed that the Kanji classification by JLPT level are incorrect… this leads to the fact that renshuu schedules by N-level turn out to be incorrect. I am not quite sure why this is, given the fact that kanji included in each category doesn’t really change (perhaps minor additions).
One example - 覆 is N1 in renshuu, when it’s actually N3. This is just one example.
This is unfortunate for me as I used the kanji renshuu schedules as a reference for kanjis at each level.
It is possible you are misunderstanding it with 覆う which, as indicated by renshuu's dictionary, is a N3 term (not kanji!)
This is most likely. The Renshuu kanji dictionary says it is N1 like all the others. Encountering words is different.
One may even be likely taught words and their reading long before you get to study the kanji used in it. I'm pretty sure it's been like that since the beginning, now that I think of it.
I have encountered this phenomenon on social media accounts before. Some will teach things I recognize, some 1 or 2 levels higher than where I am. Words with advanced kanji that may not be taught until later. Instantly familiar. So sometimes kanji isn't taught in depth until later.
There's always going to be what seems like a discrepancy when comparing words and kanji. It gets even crazier when you have single-kanji words like 私 - 私 the word is N5, but the kanji is N4!
This is actually quite similar to real-life learning for native speakers. When they learn to write, they will learn and pick up words that they do not know the kanji to, but they are still words they are (as 6 year-olds, or whatever) are expected to know and use. Only later will they get the kanji that comes along with it :)
But native speakers will follow the kanji kentei, which is much more sensible than the jlpt.
I've lost count of how many times my brain went "this is n1??" while going through the n1 schedule and encountering basic kanjis. At the same time, it looks like the jlpt expects you to work in a botanical garden with all those flower kanjis. I understand they must go through the joyo kanji, but the way they decided to split between each level is very odd.
Btw, my post is not a complaint about renshuu, or even the jlpt.
