6 most affordable ways to review and pass JLPT N5 Exam

I made a blog entry long ago about Alliance Francaise De Manille. Sadly, I and my colleagues did not take the DELF A1 exam anymore since the company was acquired by another. The reason is the new management did not want to sponsor the trainings and tests anymore. How sad T _ T

Since that incident, I decided to learn Japanese. I can practice my Japanese through immersion such as using Lang-8, reading my favorite manga and watching anime. I started studying since March 2013. I assume that you came to this entry because you are already familiar about JLPT (Japan Language Proficiency Test), its levels and you want to know how to pass the exam. I'll share you what I did to passed the JLPT N5 exam.

Registration finished! Now, I'm gonna use review materials for the JLPT.

Upon researching the JLPT 2012 results statistics, here's what I found before I did a review. I'm glad it is still available.

I knew it right? O_o

JLPT N5 has the highest passers and I think it adds that those who are already familiar with Nihongo (Japanese language) decided to take it for certification but I think taking a N5 level when you already know Japanese lacks challenge and doesn't really make sense.

However, it means that passing JLPT is really hard, knowing that almost half of the examinees still failed.

Aside from having 150 hours of basic Japanese language study within 8 months, I used these materials to help me to review with the most affordable and convenient ways as possible without having an information overload. Too much materials will be a headache.

1. Official JLPT website's question samples including audio.

It is the downloadable review materials from the JLPT site. If you are tired of compiling all the materials and just lazily want a zipped file compilation, you can subscribe to me via the feedburner located at the right side of this blog so I can send it to you. You can also try to answer sample tests here.

2. Meguro Language Center free materials.

I downloaded materials related to adjectives, particles and verbs. Nothing more nothing less.

3. Nihongo-Pro.com's quizzes and games in case you got bored.

4. Download and play apps during commute or past time. Best to use these apps on digital tablets.

Skritter - Learn to write kanji in a fun way

Image fom skritter.com

Japanese 1  - Japanese quizzes

Image from appszoom.com

Takaboto - my best free dictionary app for my Android phone and Windows computer. It includes sample sentences and can magnify each kanji for you to see clearly. 

Imiwa - only available on iOS , I am using Imiwa app on my ipad.

5.  If on another computer, try this sample audio from YouTube by Nihongo Den.

6. Borrow official JLPT reviewers and past JLPT samples from the library or your friends. 1-2 reviewers are already enough. Try listening audios because it is the most crucial part in passing JLPT.

Image from JLPT website

That's it! Also, I suggest these 4 supplementary tips.

Try TUTTLE Basic Japanese Kanji Volume 1 for supplementary purpose. The only problem is on page 16, nanajuu is seventy not seven. Overall, this book is still useful and I do not hesitate to buy volume two of this.

Install Japanese IME on your computer to type japanese characters especially on Lang-8 or searching something like your favorite Japanese celebrities on search engines.

For mobile users, I do not know if it works on other mobile operating systems, on IOS, set an international keyboard and try Japanese. If you are an intermediate level Japanese learner, you can turn your social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. into Japanese.

Use Lingualift, go here to take a look

I am using Lingualift now because aside from temporarily using Duolingo, I like Lingualift's interface. It has also fun quizzes. For me, Duolingo is only good for the beginner lessons but eventually got bored of it compared to the French lessons. Both are good and Duolingo is already popular so I'll introduce Lingualift to you.

Try Rocket languages free trial to improve your hearing and speaking lessons and what makes Rocket Languages unique is you can access audio samples.

For easier sign-up, just click the laptop image.

Done! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

I'll share on my next post my experiences while taking the exam and how I checked the results online. Congratulations to JLPT passers!