Hey, I'm still fairly new to learning Japanese, but I'd like to pass all the JPLT exams in the future for job and college opportunities in Japan. Even though I've kinda looked at what the exams themselves entail, to me they don't seem that bad just by looking at them, but when I tried to take the JPLT practice test for my level JPLT N5, I realized that they're harder than they look...
So, if you've taken a JPLT of any level, how hard are they actually?
I don't think there's a good way to answer that question, end of the day the more you prepare and try out older JLPT papers, the more likely you are to pass.
If you don't at least get a 60-70% passing on a mock paper it is a better idea to study some more. (50% is NOT the passing mark)
I just took N3 last weekend and it (felt) like I might able to pass because I could answer most of the questions; before the test I bought 1 N3 preparation book, and 1 N3 listening book (because when I took N4 in 2017 I almost failed listening, only had 20+ points out of 50(or was it 60 total).
