Reviewing for the JLPT N3

As the new 2010 JLPT exam comes closer and closer, I’ve been eagerly looking for ways to review for the test. This year I spent a lot of time just reading and listening to Japanese on my own, not necessarily toward the JLPT, but I needed something more structured to review just what kind of things I need to know for the test, and whether I have a reasonable chance to pass. So while visiting the local Japanese bookstore here in Seattle, Kinokuniya, I found a delightful book covering grammar and vocabulary for the N3 level exam by Unicom. The book can be found here at The Japan Shop and also at White Rabbit Press.

Unicom is one of the major publishers of study material for Japanese and the JLPT and I’ve had good luck with their material previously, but the N3 is an all-new exam, and the test designers are more secretive about the test content to avoid people memorizing and not actually demonstrating genuine skills. So, as this is the first year, it’s not clear if N3 level study materials accurately reflect the test or not, and so far I’ve been skeptical. However, I’ve been pleased with this book so far for a few reasons:

• Provides practice questions similar in format to the ones used in the JLPT practice tests (good), so I can get used to the new JLPT style questions.
• The vast majority of the text is in Japanese, not English. If you’re taking the N3, you really should be able to read basic Japanese comfortably by now, meaning that you can read Kana without trouble, and can read at a reasonable speed. Practicing your reading skills with manga is almost essential for N3 and above, in my opinion. You may not know all the words, but this is not such a problem since that’s just a part of vocabulary building.
• The topics covered in the book are divided into logical groups like “phrases”, “noun extensions”, “masu-stem verb extensions” and such. I’ve found this helpful in remember that such-and-such grammar point relates to nouns only, not verbs, for example.
• The pace is a review format, so it’s not too dense. With only 3 months left, I should be somewhat familiar with the content already (which overlaps a little with the N4/old JLPT3 which I passed last year), so the pace fits my need right now.

Surprisingly, as I am working through the book, I was surprised by how much I already knew. This is because other books I’ve read and reviewed on this blog already covered many of the same subjects:

• Basic Connections: Making your Japanese Flow – Many of the grammar points covered in the Unicom book are also covered here, though in greater detail. This book has been one of the most helpful books I’ve read in the last year in my opinion.
• The Handbook of Japanese Adjectives and Adverbs – This book is a more narrow one in topic, but the subject of adverbs and adjectives is often neglected by students like me, and I found studying adverbs more really helped my reading and conversation ability. Again, I’ve been surprised to see how much of the text in the Unicom book is similar to what was covered here.
• All About Japanese Particles – This book covers all major particles, and more obscure ones too and again I was a bit surprised by the overlap with the Unicom book.

Having read these books late last year and early this year has made reviewing for the N3 a lot easier than I expected, but I am still glad to see a book directed toward the N3 specifically available in markets at last. I am going into the test three months more confident now than I was a before.

P.S. Kind of off-schedule, but I felt like getting this out sooner than later since a lot of people are cramming for the test now (and hitting my blog via Google searches as a result). Best of luck to my fellow N3 test-takers!