You don’t know how inspirational you are and how this video helped me! Ever since we’ve been quarantined and i’ve been slacking off studying Japanese, i took a month break and I hardly got back on track to catch up my N3 studies. But after watching your video, you really made me want to 熱心に study. Thank you thank you thank you 🖤🖤🖤
Oh my gosh thank you so much for the lovely kind words! I never thought I'd be inspiring to anyone hahaha. I totally understand though- I've been a bit demotivated with the whole pandemic situation. Initially I thought "ok I will use this time to study more!" but I found it hard to motivate myself recently. Probably because I didn't have a big old N2 exam coming up!! Let's motivate each other, 頑張ろう！
@@tinyquail Hello, I'm here for an update, I passed N3 and got 60/60 in goi and bunpou, and 59/60 in Listening! (let's not talk about the dokkai xD) I can't believe i did it! I thought of coming back since you helped me through this video
@@Mitsukibrando1384 WOOOOO!!!!! Oh my gosh congratulations! I'm so proud of you! You killed me in the 語彙・文法 section 👏👏👏 You must feel so releived! And also thank you so much for coming back here to give an update. I didn't think people actually did that kind of thing, so it really warms my heart to think that you'd a) remember me and b) take the time to come back and comment again! Actually I haven't taken the N2 yet, but depending on what happens with COVID I think I will take it this year. Maybe we can pass together!
@@tinyquail Hello again! the JLPT registration in my country will be available in 2 days, this time I'll be taking the N2! I hope you can take the N2 too this time, let's do our best and pass together! I'll be back for a results update (hopefully lol) 頑張ろう！
@@Mitsukibrando1384 Hello again and welcome back!!! Wooo that's amazing that you will take N2. Its a big jump up I believe!! (I am studying for it now too!!) Let's 頑張ろう！ Also, thank you SO SO much for coming back AGAIN!! This makes me feel so incredibly happy and special that you would take the time to return to this random internet person's video and comment with updates!
The moment you said that you didn't understand anything at first made feel ok i was soooo worried that I'll mess up but now i know there's a learning curve for it so i need to be patient thanks for the video helped a LOT🥺❤❤
Aww thank you so much for your sweet comment. Yeah at first I was like “I will never be able to know any of this 🥲” but now I can look back on those daunting first pages and be like “man I can use this grammar without even thinking… I’ve come so far!” It’s a great feeling!! (Now I’m doing the same thing with N2 haha) Don’t give up, if you just do a little bit, then another little bit, and then keep doing that, eventually you’ll have done ALL the little bits!!!!
You can do it!!! I found that doing a mock test actually makes you realise how prepared you are, instead of how prepared you THINK you are. If you have the time, do some more mock tests too, because this not only trains your Japanese abilities, but your test-taking abilities. Let me know how you go with the N3 in December!
I genuinely don't understand why you have very few views:( I'm preparing for the JLPT N3 exam and just have bumped into your video. You are so nice that it's enjoyble to watch! Thank you I'm definitely a subscriber now😍
thanks you for these tips you really gave me some energy to prepare for my jlpt n3, however due to the pandemic in our region it seems likely that the december test will be cancelled as well, that will be a blow for me
You’re welcome, I hope they are useful! Don’t wait! Start studying now, even if it’s just a little bit a day (like 10 minutes) it will help you build stamina so you don’t feel overwhelmed when you start “properly studying” 😉
I just took the N4 yesterday. On the fence about whether to take N3 in December or take my time so that i can output/speak and do it next year July. This is helpful
Oooh! I hope that the N4 went well! Fingers crossed for a passing result! I'm glad you found it the video helpful 😊 I think there is quite a big jump between N4 and N3, but my advice would be to do a practice exam (after some study of course!) and see how it feels for you. It's always a bad thing to slow down and take your time to study though :3
@tinyquail thanks so much for the advice. I will do just that. Im an ALT, so I have a month of desk warming to push some serious studies. Grammar has always been my weak point, so I'm not sure how it's going to pan out for N4, but the other sections were alright.
このビデオを本当にありがとうございます! (◍•ᴗ•◍) I have been studying Japanese on my own. Already passed N5 & currently preparing for N4. Don’t have an idea yet how to prepare for N3 and this video is really helpful. 😊❤️
Thank you for watching, I’m so glad that this helped you, even if only a little! That’s amazing that you passed N5 all on your own just by self studying! Go you!! N3 is a big jump from N4, but as long as you keep chipping away little by little and don’t give up, you’ll get there! N4の準備も頑張ってくださいね！😊✨
You're so welcome! I'm glad I could be of some use. 🖤 PS: I am SO sorry it took so long to reply- usually RU-vid sends me an email when I get a comment but I hadn't got one for a while and thought I would come here to check and- BAM! Comment city! 🤦♀️🤦♀️
Your video is really very informative. Thanks for sharing such a enlightening tips which will going to help me to prepare for N3. Do you have any specific decks for anki ?
Thank you! I hope it helps you. For the decks, I used Nihongoshark.com: Kanji for kanji recognition (not readings, just meanings) but the other decks are ones I created myself and just keep adding to (one for Kanji readings and one for Vocab)
I just found out I passed the N3 today. My first try at any Jlpt exam. I used Try! textbook and the official Jlpt published N3 textbook. I made sure to do EVERY exercise and understand EVERY kanji and grammar in them. Sooo now I’m thinking when to do N2 or skip to N1. I’m a full time uni student so I don’t necessarily have spare time. I think I’m going to go at a slower pace (because I crammed a lot for N3).
Congratulations!! That's awesome! :) 🤩👏 The jump between N3 and N1 is PRETTY large, but if you have a long time to study then maybe you can do it? I am not sure as I have not studied N1 material yet, but the gap between N3 and N2 is big. If you're a full time uni student you definitely don't want to burn yourself out- but you know your own pace and abilities better than me (a random internet person) so I would say listen to your own heart! :) Good luck with the next stage of your learning journey!
Wow, these are some great tips. I didn’t even know wordgrammar.net and it looks great 👍 Could you add a list to the description of the materials you used, as to easier track them down (for instance the pink book)? Fingers crossed for february!
Thanks for the idea! I've added a list in the description :) I've also added in a few other resources that I didn't think of when I was recording the video. Are you studying for the JLPT at the moment? If you are- good luck!!
Hi thanks for the tips and references, if possible could you please let me know how long you studied for N3 (how many months and how many hours per day?). Regards.
I'm glad you found it useful! Gosh.. this was a few years ago now. I think I studied "seriously" for about 6 months, about an hour per day (then maybe 3-5 hours on the weekend)
For Anki I actually just use decks I've created myself. Whenever I encounter a new word, I write it in my notebook or screenshot it (If I've seen it on my phone) and then add it to my deck later on. I have 2 decks that I have made, one for Kanji readings and one for vocab. I've found that curating my own decks makes me learn the words better because I've actually used them or found them in my daily life (or in my textbooks haha) and that makes it easier for me to remember it (rather than just trying to memorize words with no context.) For kanji, I made a "basic" card. The front/ question side is just a kanji like 緊急事態 and then the back / answer is the reading for it, like きんきゅうじたい For vocab, I enter that same word but I use the reverse card option, so it tests me on "what does this Japanese word mean" and also "how do you say this in Japanese" if that makes sense. A card like that would look like this: Front: 緊急事態・きんきゅうじたい Back: state of emergency (n) Yes it takes longer this way, but you also get extra "memory time" when you're manually typing the words into the computer 2 times haha. I'm pretty sure you can download decks related to specific textbooks too- for Kanzen Maseter or Sou Matome books, for example. Sorry that was probably a more long-winded answer than you wanted >.< N3に頑張ってください！
このビデオを作ってくれてありがとう！)) i was just curious how long did it take you to prepare for the N3? I see there is one in a test site near me in July so I am wondering if i can make it in two months... I have already passed my N4 a while ago, for context, and just need something to keep me motivated to study!
I passed N3 last year and I'm taking N2 this year in december. You can definitely pass N3 with enough dedication in 2 months BUT it will be extremely hard as N3 and N4 is nothing alike. Generally, it is a good idea to give yourself around 6 to 8 months to prepare yourself for any JLPT proficiency test. Again, you definitely can pass with enough dedication!
@Dana B. That's a tough question because N3 was actually the first JLPT I ever took. I've been self-studying on and off for years (never seriously or consistently) so doing N3 was more a way for me to gauge my level for myself. So it depends how strong your foundation is I suppose. I would say, try to study as hard as you can and do some practice tests (full length, no breaks, timed.) If you can get a passing mark on these practices, then you will probably be ok, but if you are nowhere near a pass mark then that's probably a good indication that 2 months is too short. But like I said, I've never done an N4 test so I can't give you my personal experience with the N4-N3 gap.
@kurou Good luck with N2 this year! I was planning to take it too, but I have been a slacker in studying with the whole pandemic situation, so I don't think I'll be ready.
@@tinyquail I can also say the same for myself :,) I've been always studying with So-Matome and I'm on week 3. It's very hard to stay consistent. I'm not as confident as I was when I was studying for the N3.
Thank you so much for the useful info! I'm about to take N4 this December which I hope will not cancelled/postponed and I will be preparing for N3 study after. How did you study for vocabulary? Were you not worried about not knowing enough vocabulary because you already think the tvs, books and websites are good enough to cover most N3 vocabularies? I'm thinking if I should buy the Sou Matome vocabulary book or I should reduce my expenditure on books. Please share your thoughts!
Good luck with the N4! I'm sure you'll do great!! (My tip would be to DO PRACTICE N4 EXAMS!!... that helped me a LOT!) In terms of vocab, I hate vocab books because I just see them as big word lists. Instead, I got most of my vocab from the reading comprehension and grammar books I was studying. Because these books replicate the type of questions and level of Japanese that will appear in the real test, I found that the vocab used was also from that level. So I just made sure that I knew all of the vocab used in both of these books. I wasn't worried about not knowing enough vocab, because when I did practice tests I found that I could understand most of it, so I felt I was well prepared. But that's just me- if you learn well from vocab books, go for it! I personally just don't like them >O
For N3, how many hours did you put in per day? I just wrote my N4 and I kind of crammed 200 kanjis in 5 days. I'm a student so I'm not sure how long I can dedicate to (self) studying everyday... Thank you for the video!
Thanks for your question! I was working full time when I was studying for N3, so I think I only did about 1-2 hours per day (but a lot longer on the weekend, usually 5-7 hours!) I was so over-prepared though, I don't think you need to go too crazy! I hope the N4 went well for you!! :)
I think you should start with the basics and work your way up! Studying for the N3 without basic knowledge of Japanese would be like trying to run a marathon before you even know how to stand upright. If you jump into something far too hard, your motivation will likely fizzle really fast.
Hi! Thanks for posting this video, it gives me some insights since I plan to sit in jlpt n3 exam at the end of this year (finger cross, lol). I found some similiraties in our study method (deep and fun study, chibi maruko chan n terrace house, and this will be my first jlpt test ever). I learned Japanese and studied in Japanese Uni (int’l class, yet highly used Japanese environment) for 2 years but I barely did learn kanji since my main concern at that time was being able to speak and to understand what my colleagues are discussing about both in daily life and lecture time. I am wondering how did you start learn kanjis for n3 test? Do you start from the basic kanji in n5 n4 then proceed to n3 kanji? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks ;)
Hello! I'm so sorry for not replying to your for a whole month- usually RU-vid sends me notification when someone leaves a comment, but I didn't receive anything this time and just saw your comment when I logged into check some analytics. Many apologies! In any case, that's great that you are aiming for the N3! I hope the studying is going well. Super cool that we have a kind of similar backstory with the JLPT haha! In regard to your question, I had already absorbed a lot of N5 and N4 kanji just from previous non-JLPT related study, so I felt like I could read them all with no problem anyway. I found that my anki deck for kanji readings was the most helpful for tackling the kanji section of the test- anything that I didn't know how to read went in that deck (regardless of level) and it helped even if I was reading a word I'd never seen before, because I often knew parts of it from other kanji combos-- if that makes sense. As you go through N3 material/ textbooks / mock tests you'll see similar kanji come up again and again, so you'll get more of a feel for what to expect in the test. I hope that helps and wasn't too rambly...
That's awesome well done! As for passing N3 in 3 months--- there's a LOT of content and it's a big jump from N4. I'm not saying it's impossible, but I think it might be really difficult to study that much in only 3 months. 頑張ってね！
What is your routine when studying? I just pass N4 & planning to take N3 on December. Hope you can give some tips. I just open my textbook I didn't understand anything. I don't know what should I learn first. Hope you can give tips. Thank you!
Hi amie chan, that's a really good question! I was in your position too- I bought the textbook and had no idea what was going on on where to start, and no idea what to study. I think there is magic in building your own routine, because everyone is different. I had different routines based on the material I was studying, as well as how far into my studies I got. As a basic idea, I would choose a 'section' (if it was the grammar book) or an 'excercise' (if it was the reading book) and just go through it as best I could. For grammar, I would make my own notes (not copying down the whole thing, just pulling out key points and a couple of eg sentences). I would look up any words I didn't know, write them down, and pop them in Anki later on for review. I also ended up making physical flashcards for grammar points (which you see in the video above) so I could remember the basic meaning of the grammar. Then I just tired to do as many practice exercises as I could. I found that I would go over the same grammar points multiple times by using different material. For example, I would first maybe read it in Shin Kanzen, then it would come up again when I went through Nihongo No Mori. And then when I used Sou Matome as a review, it popped up again. I also try to watch shows or RU-vid in Japanese, or read books in Japanese so that I keep exposing myself to as much grammar and vocab as possible. I'm sorry that's not a total study plan, but I hop it helps a bit. Maybe I should make a more in depth video about my study routines....
@@tinyquail Yes please. I'm sure a lot of people who pass N4 last January will look for a reference on how other people pass N3 like yours.😊 It would be a great help if you post a video on how does your study routine works for you! Looking forward to it!
If you've not studied any N5 and N4 material before, then N3 material will be way too hard!! You don't necessarily have to have studied from Shinkanzen, but you will definitely need that foundation knowledge first. (It's like trying to cook a 10 course meal when you don't even know how to cut an onion yet!) Good luck with your studies :D
good day maam!may i ask?in studying N3 is the vocabulary books either shin kanzen or sou matome books are not neccessary to be studied?or in studying n3 the vocabulary part are not so important to be studied?please enlighten me maam…hope you will reply to my message…thanks in advance…xoxo
Thank you for your comment! I think that it is different for everyone- for me I prefer to study vocabulary in context, rather than memorising lists of words from a book. So for me personally I didn't use the vocab N3 books. But if you love vocab and find these resources appealing / useful, then you should go for it!! I hope that helps.
@@tinyquail ok maam…i will go for it…thank you for your advice and the sweet reply hehe…godbless you maam…take care always…and more power to your channel…xoxo
Hey, thanks for your question! I had studied Japanese before, but I'd never attempted to take the JLPT, so I'd never actually worked with specific materials for specific levels, if that makes sense. So I definitely didn't just jump into N3 material from zero! My main reason for taking the JLPT was to assess my own level, because I'm mostly self taught and have picked up a bunch of grammar, vocab, etc but never knew where I sat in terms of ability. As I was studying N3 material, I found that I already knew some of it, but other parts were new, so I thought it was probably the right level for me to be attempting. I hope that helps! :)
@@tinyquail Oh I see. I have taken the N5 before but wanted to jump to N3. I think my chances are good? I'll have to wait til next December anyway. Thank you!
@@tinyquail i live in Australia right now, im planning to take N3 end of the year so i have some of the textbooks you recommend. I just want to say you inspire people. Thanks for the tip! I’ll do my best to pass this year!
@@幸せ777 Wah, thank you so much that's really kind of you to say! That's great that you'll take the N3 this year- you have heaps to time to prepare so give it your best shot and I'm sure you'll pass!! :)
