In previous posts, I’ve mentioned I’m going to take the JLPT N2 this December. I’ve got a better study plan then I did last year when I was studying for the N3, but I’ve also started studying for it later, so I’m not sure if I’ll cover enough material to pass it. I’ve been a little slack with my studying, except listening practice, because I received great news last month. I’ve been accepted to graduate school in Japan! I’ll be writing about that experience on my other blog: Spring in Tokyo. Since I will be in Japan for at least 2 years, I plan to write more about learning Japanese in Japan on this blog.
In terms of studying, I’m doing a lot of listening practice from podcasts, YouTube and JLPT books. I am still doing kanji studying. I’ve finished studying kanji from 1st grade to 6th grade on StickyStudy and am working on the JLPT N2 kanji lists and 7th grade and 8th grade kanji simultaneously. On the other hand, I’ve hardly studied vocabulary. My plan is to finish studying kanji soon and then just study vocabulary up until the test. When I first decided to take the JLPT N2, I tried to study really hard by trying to do a little bit of everything at once. I was going really strong too, but then I received that acceptance letter and fell off the bandwagon.
Now, I have been trying to be consistent by doing small things like studying with StickyStudy. I like studying kanji on the app and it tells me how much to study every day. By not trying to do too much at one time, I’ve given myself flexibility with my study plan and have allowed myself time to do other things besides studying Japanese. Not to say that the work I did at the beginning was necessarily bad, it gave me a good method for studying grammar and I went through a lot of N2 material. I developed a good resource lists for JLPT grammar and a nice, albeit not completed study guide. However, I think that learning a language should be a lifestyle change, not a cramming session.
Learning Japanese for Life 