Today is the test day for the JLPT N3. That is the middle level of 5 (N5 easiest, N1 hardest).
It's not a short test:
30 mins Vocab
70 mins Grammar/Reading
40 mins Listening
with 30 minute breaks between.
I plan on taking one shot at N3, and then if/when I try again it will be N2. That's regardless of passing/failing. I'm just using the JLPT as a gauge of my Japanese improvement and to guide my studies (on the test? Study it. Not? Skip it for now.) rather than for actual certification. So I want to keep challenging higher if the test material is at least within my grasp, and forcing myself to fill in the blanks as I go. Tomorrow I start adding N2 level vocabulary and materials (well, more N2 level materials) to my flash cards and reading this.
It's just a pain in the butt to take the test - once a year, on the first Sunday in December, in NYC, four hours long, etc. Nothing convenient about it. I'd love to find a good, reliable, online test I could take for Japanese just to gauge my skills against a rigorous standard. Until they, all I have is the official test so I'll keep at them.
Either way, here is hoping I pass! I've got my #2 pencils, eraser, non-beeping watch, and all the other accoutrements of standardized testing.*
* I just want to point out that my athletic training professional certs are all online (open book but hard) or are given at local test centers on demands, with instant results. No shock, education testing lags everything.
