JLPT

First I want to apologize for no new posts nor new YouTube Vids.

I will only say that this semester a lot of very life changing things came up,

and I had to step back from everything. I mean everything.

Even Japanese.

Things seem to be returning to a pace that I can return to mundane life.

I hopefully will become more frequent after the holidays.

I have so much to share from my good experiences this semester.

For now I will talking of most recent.

This whole semester I was studying for the JLPT.

(Japanese Language Proficiency Test)

For those that do not know what that is it's a standardized test with 5 levels.

(5 being the beginner and 1 most difficult).

There are many reasons why people take this test.

The person might just want to see how they're doing.(like me)

Practice for when it really counts. (like me)

Needed as proof of ability for work in Japan.

Or to enter college in Japan. 

(Though many colleges now in Japan use EJU)
Note: If study entering in a study abroad program than it's most likely JLPT)

It is a multiple choice test with 3 parts.

Vocab, grammar/reading, and listening.

I'm thankful there's no writing or oral section involved.

Just like any standardized test it has it's pros and cons.

For me it was good because I'm mostly self-taught.

I don't get any tests, nothing.

(With a friend as my tutor to guide me).

So I don't know where I am in my level of Japanese.

The bad? 

Well my friend, whom I met at the test, sums it up well.

(http://isitpossible.posterous.com/what-does-the-jlpt-prove)

Studying for the exam is pretty difficult.

I only had books on how to take the exam and practice chapters.

I noticed there was a lot I needed to review.

Some things my Genki I textbook never even mentioned!

I don't know how I did.

But I can say I was pretty excited, and nervous, to take the test.

(So much I wanted to cry in joy.... I know weird.)

(That's a whole other "my road to fluency" story)

For the vocab I think I passed.

That's an area I focus a lot on.

The grammar.... I'm not sure.

I want to buy a book just on particles now cause of that test!

The listening... I had to hold in giggles.

Waiting till February to find out is horrid. 

I'm hoping that I passed so next year I can take N4.

That way when I go to study in Japan I can take N3.

I want to make every penny worth it when I pay to go there,

so it's better to aim for higher level so I can take higher level classes right?

I was glad to see what I needed to review.

There are things that I just skipped over cause I don't like them.

(days of the month, counters, direction words, etc.)

It also showed me how much more I need to immerse my day.

I need to watch in Japanese and read more in Japanese.

And I need to return to writing in my Japanese journal.

Oh, and can I say how blown away I was from meeting the other test takers?

I'm used to being the only gaijin that speaks Japanese.

I knew everyone else there would know Japanese but...

I've never been surrounded by so many Japanese speaking gaijin!

They spoke so easily to each other and so many kinds of people.

It's awesome to see how a language, a country can unify so many different kind of people.

I was so shy to say anything in Japanese.

Which showed me I really need to get over that and just do it.

Some day I could be at there level.

Did you take the JLPT?

What did you think?

Here are some links to info:

JLPT wiki
EJU
JLPT website
EJU website