Nihongo nouryoku Shiken
Today was the “Nihongo Nouryoku Shiken”, also known as the Japanese Language Proficience Test. The test is one of the few “official” japanese proficience tests, and the most traditional one.
Let me start by saying that there are few things as nice as taking an exam on a subject you like without caring at all about the outcome. I mean, I did not study for the exam: since I just wanted to test my current level of japanese, it did not make sense studing for the exam, thus artificially raising my level. I took the questions seriously, of course, but not to the point of having a headache. Just enjoying the joy of the challenge.
Anyway, I probably didn’t pass the test anyway. The test has three parts. The first, kanji/vocabulary, was actually quite easier than I thought. I think I got over 70% on that one. The second, listening compreehension, wasn’t that hard either, but I got a slighly lower score. The last part, though, reading, got me by surprise. I had heard that the time was quite sort for this third stage of the test, but when the time was almost over, I hadn’t finished even 2 thirds of it. Even though the questions seemed reasonable, there just wasn’t enough time.
Well, now I know what I need to study for next year. But probably I’ll try a higher level this time.
December 6th, 2005 at 2:36 am
You took level two right? My friends taking level 2 all complained that they did not have enough time to finish the reading/grammar part. Do you read the questions before you read the passage? It helps a lot, at least that’s what I was taught since sec sch ^_^ Even then, 70 minutes is chotto mijikakatta ne…
December 6th, 2005 at 5:10 pm
It was 2nd level, allright. Actually, the whole testroom went “Aaaaaah” when it was announced on the speakers that there was only 5 minutes left to finish the test, so I wasn’t the only one, I guess…
About your hint. Well, The way the questions were posed, I think it works, but this shouldn’t be the way that one person should go about reading texts… Good text comprehension comes from understanding the text as a whole, and being able to answer general questions about it, than hunting the questions for quick, well fenced definitions which answers each question.
Oh well.
December 6th, 2005 at 5:26 pm
Heh, I’m not asking you to hunt for answers by just zooming in onto the parts where the questions are focused on. By reading the questions first it helps to give you a better concept of what the text is going to be about, and when you start reading it’ll be easier to understand. That was what I meant, lah. Sorry I didn’t explain it clearly.
December 10th, 2005 at 6:17 am
Hi! I did this test for level 3. Luckly there was enough time to do the third part, but I’m not sure if I got more than 60%. Now, we just can wait for a long time, because I think the result will come in Feb. Good luck for all of us! =D