I've recently been really stepping up my efforts to study whenever and however I can in the last few weeks before the test here. I'm trying to punch my way through the Kanzen Master N2 listening book I picked up just recently before I go into the real tes

Lately, I've been pretty baffled by sentential grammar 2 (sentence composition) questions. These are those nasty scrambled sentences that come up on the 2nd part of the grammar section of the test. As I was quickly going back through my N2 So-Matome Gr...

I recently switched to reviewing my So-Matome grammar book for N2. This a bit of a departure from the old kanzen master grammar book I was studying. Mostly because it has the scrambled sentences, or what the official JLPT website likes to call 'Sentent...

I recently went through teaching an intensive program with some students. It involved a few 12 hour days with me being the classroom for about 10 hours. Needless to say it was exhausting and I didn't get that much studying done during that time. I did, ho

Recently, I've switched my focus from vocabulary to grammar. Back in July, I took the N2 and failed the test, and one of my strengths was vocabulary. I also scored all right in grammar (B), but I feel like I'm getting a little bit rusty lately. So, I've

First off, I can't believe this is my 50th episode! Thanks everyone for making the podcast a success and for supporting me and the site through this process. I hope to be delivering another 50 podcasts with better than ever quality of content. Recent ...

I have almost completed the 試験に出る読解 that I've been talking about over the last couple of weeks. It only took me about 3 or 4 weeks to complete and it has been a really tough book. There is a lot of vocabulary that can't be found on any N2 vo

I'm still chugging my way through 試験に出る読解N1/N2 (Reading exercises on the test), which is a pretty difficult book. Again, not for the faint of heart. There are numerous words in the essays that probably should have definitions, but just don't

I started a new reading book for the N2 (and the N1) called 試験に出る読解 (reading comprehension that is on the test). It is definitely an amazing book, but not for the faint of heart. The book is entirely in Japanese, including the advice and exp

I just got my results back from my July JLPT. In short, I failed the exam, but not spectacularly. I feel like 75/180 isn't terrible. At least it is better than some other attempts I've seen. Also, due to the odd nature of the grading system they use...