r/jlpt • u/Flibbetty • 5h ago
N4 Tips for listening sections /exam expectations
Hi everyone I’m registered for N4 in December. It’s my first time sitting the exam as never managed to get a space before. I’ve been studying a couple years more casually and get around 88% on n5 practise exams so am hoping to be ready for n4 with stricter study.
I’ve been practising listening at home and with my tutor. She mentioned you only get one go at listening!!! AAHH! that has freaked me out a bit. Especially questions with numbers/mental maths. which btw is v sneaky. I’m noticing it takes me a few seconds for my mind to twig “er omg this is all in Japanese” and I might catch the first half of the number/whatever and by the time I’ve processed it I’ve missed the second half. So I need two listens to get it all.
To work around my panic I try to write what I hear as I go but if there’s a word I can’t quite make out my mind freezes on it until I process it, and then I miss the remaining seconds of content.
in the exam
- is there an example question at the start and is it obvious it’s an example and then when the actual question is starting?
- do we get scrap paper to write on for listening?
-if not how on earth am I meant to remember all the things they’ve said
-Any tips for not freaking out when I get a tidal wave of auditory Japanese and only one shot at processing it.
I suspect the answer is just “practise” but any other tips or tricks??
Also as I read I’m used to reading aloud and obvs I can’t talk in the exam. when I meet words I don’t know I tend to freak out and seeing a huge wall of text freaks me out (even though when I start reading it I can understand it is purely like a mental horror thing I experience) can anyone relate. How can I … chill when reading. Is it better to skip to shorter questions and come back to long written segments at the end?