Yeah, my biggest weakness, surprisingly enough, is vocabulary. I really thought I’d do better since I studied vocab a lot, but when it came to actual word usage (and those tricky “find a similar sentence” questions), I flailed around a lot in confusion. I think I’ve memorized the meanings well enough, but application of those words is another matter I guess. Keigo messed me up too, but I haven’t spent much time on that, so you’re right in that I should keep practicing. Listening of course is a life-time practice, so I will keep up the work there.

I started the Bojinsha mock test (covered on yoru blog) yesterday and it confirmed that vocab was an issue, though I think their opening test is just way too easy. Nevertheless I like the exercises afterwards, so I will keep trying.

Yeah, it help revive my enthusiasm, though at the same time, I already see my mind mentally slacking off because of my “good enough score”. Can’t be idle with such things.

Cheers!

My advice is concentrate on your weak point where you are more likely to pick up extra points. (diminishing returns and all that)
I found that general reading helped a lot just in processing the questions quickly to allow me to answer them.
The mock test book’s test is of the same kind as the actual test.
I’d also look at the marks distribution and allocate your time accordingly when doing the test.

Hopefully this will increase your enthusiasm that seemed to be flagging in an earlier post.