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道Nihongo Path

Exam strategy

How each JLPT question type works and how to approach it under time pressure.

  1. How to approach vocabulary questions (文字・語彙)The N2 vocabulary section has six question types, each testing a different skill. Knowing which skill each one targets tells you where to look for the answer and how much time to spend.
  2. Grammar question strategies: 文法形式, 並べ替え and 文章文法N2 grammar is three question types with three different techniques: matching form to meaning in single sentences, assembling scrambled fragments around a ★, and following the logic of a short passage.
  3. Reading time management: a minute-by-minute plan for the 105-minute sessionReading is where most N2 candidates run out of time. A fixed time budget per passage type, a set order of attack, and a rule for when to move on will let you attempt every question.
  4. How to find the author's opinion in a reading passageMany N2 reading questions ask what the writer thinks. The opinion is signalled by position, by specific sentence endings, and by contrast markers, so you can locate it rather than guess it.
  5. Listening strategies: question types, note-taking and 即時応答The 50-minute N2 listening section plays each item once. Each of its five question types tells you in advance what to listen for; use that, take minimal notes, and never let a missed item cost you the next one.
  6. Eliminating wrong answers and handling unknown wordsYou will meet words you do not know on every N2 paper. Elimination, context inference and kanji analysis turn those moments from lost points into probable ones, without needing perfect knowledge.
  7. N1 test plan: the 110-minute session and the 55-minute listeningN1 is not N2 with harder words. The reading passages are longer and more abstract, the grammar tests register and written style, and the listening plays once at full natural speed. This guide plans the two sessions minute by minute and says what to do differently from N2.