Is anybody else preparing for N1 here? I got 169 in N2, so I am fairly thorough with the kanjis up to N2, or so I like to believe but N1 kanjis are so baffling. I am taking the exam (first attempt) in July... does anybody have any tips for preparation? As of now, I will most definitely flunk the kanji-goi part.
Not that far in terms of knowledge however I have experienced that situation twice already with the JLPT so I think I could give you some pointers in that regard (Either way you're free to take it with a grain of salt since I'm only extrapolating my experience).
I find the best way to approach this problem is in this order:
The reason is that, once you know the kanji blowing through a lot of vocab is easier since well, you can make a guess of the meaning already (for those words that apply), and the grammar doesn't mean anything when you can't understand what are the words in the sentence.
The exam is in July according to your post, so you have at least all of May and June to study, that's around 60 effective days of studying. Assuming you have already all the kanji for N2 that puts you over 1000, so you need to know another 1000 or so to make it (even less if you have more in your belt already). Without having studied any single one yet you need to study AT LEAST 15 kanji a day to cover almost all the one's that are left. Also assuming you know just enough words to pass the N2 you have a vocab of at least 6000 terms, meaning you would need another 4000 or so words to just make the cut, so you would need to study around 65 terms daily of vocabulary to almost make it. Learning the grammar for me at least has been a lot easier to cram since you are only making sense of all the things you know already. And reading helps you greatly with retention, speed and seeing the patterns for the grammar in their "wild form" so it feels like the last step to make everything stick for good while preparing for the exam.
tl:dr: Cram, cram, cram and cram the most you can: 15 kanji a day, 65 new vocab a day, maybe 1 grammar structure a day. Read whenever not studying. Every single day without exception.
Even if you don't make it in time or can't really keep up those numbers do as most as you can. The more you know will make it easier to guess in the test (in the worst case). Don't slack even a single day. Whenever you can't study or are burnt out for the heavy schedule read, read and read more. Anki or renshuu will be your greatest allies since SRS will be a necessity to make it all work in that time frame.
Attached video for extra motivation, don't forget that. And that's all I can offer, some numbers, possible goals and maybe a priority list. Sorry if that didn't help at all or isn't what you're looking for m(_ _)m
Best advice ever! I'm trying to study in the same order too, except Kanji and Vocab together is too much for me, so I do grammar as a bit of relaxation. LOL. I am pretty OK with all the vocab and kanji up to N2, at least whatever I studied earlier for the exam preparation, I just need to revise it before the exam I think.
Thanks a lot for your inputs :) Also, I forgot to mention that I am almost 7 months pregnant, so I will be writing the exam with an almost full term belly.
Best advice ever! I'm trying to study in the same order too, except Kanji and Vocab together is too much for me, so I do grammar as a bit of relaxation. LOL. I am pretty OK with all the vocab and kanji up to N2, at least whatever I studied earlier for the exam preparation, I just need to revise it before the exam I think.
Thanks a lot for your inputs :) Also, I forgot to mention that I am almost 7 months pregnant, so I will be writing the exam with an almost full term belly.
Grammar is indeed relaxing after cramming for some time. And I can understand that those numbers I posted are not really the most easy in the world, in fact you would need a lot of time to go through that really. But do as best as you can (ask your baby for some extra memory to study as much as you can ) .
Oh by the way, if you're feeling lazy to even grab a book or something I would suggest trying the Youtube channel "nihongonomori", they have some interesting videos for both vocab and grammar, from N3 to N1 explained the japanese way. I can confirm they really help when nearing the exam date and I really thank them for their assistance in helping me pass N3 in dire times.
) .