I see a lot of success stories on here so I thought I’d share a failure. I failed N2 by 2 points. Got 104 total, passed 2/3 sections. Listening was my highest at 50/60 and I’m kind of confused how I got that high of a score for that section, but frankly, I’ll take it. It’s the one saving grace I feel like I can scrape off of this failure lol.
But I digress, I’m now studying harder than ever. Gonna read more because clearly that’s what I need to focus on. Just read a shit ton, increase reading speed and comprehension, and while I’m at it increase vocab and grammar as well.
Since I’m in the states I can only take this exam once a year which is annoying, but I’m going to use that time to completely shatter N2. Ultimate goal is to already be studying N1 material by the end of this year. I want the next N2 exam to be so easy I finish that shit without breaking a sweat.
And while I am frustrated about failing, to be honest even if I’d passed I don’t think I could be proud of a score below 110/180. I do intend to use this cert to get back to Japan so I need to go all out. Probably gonna sign up for regular speech classes on italki while I’m at it as well. I did it once for interview practice in Japanese and had a really good experience.
Anyways, just wanted to post this in case anyone else was also discouraged from failing. I’m using it to light a fire under my ass and am excited for the future!
8 comments
Could you give us some more info about your total vocab and whether or not you know all the joyo kanji? Also, what methods did you use to study. RTK, Genki, Wani Kani? Knowing your path and what gave you trouble and success is helpful for others if they have similar experiences. I am guessing you did a lot of listening to get such a score – what did you study or enjoy to get to such a level?
Is great to see the motivation you got besides everything, looking forward to see how it will goes.
I’m glad that it motivated you.
I failed N2 in 2017 and stopped studying entirely.
I also failed n2 by 2 points but i was happy because i never thought im to going to get score like that. I thought i will get much lower. Well it means i have to study just bit more and i can pass n2 too on my next try!
I failed N3 by 6 points and I’m super motivated to try for N2 next December!
If you’d like to properly assess what was lacking from your training, I’d love to help. I’m a Japanese teacher that mainly trains people to pass the N1. Here’s my link to book a free trial assessment: https://zcal.co/carloscoordinator/japanese
Wait, your score is 104 in total and didn’t pass? What’s your other section scores? I’m curious because it feels unfair since my score is way below you…
I’m no expert but if I failed an exam by 2 points I wouldn’t waste time retrying that, I would immediately start studying for the one higher level in your case N1 and take that one failing by 2 points i think is just unlucky its not you not knowing japanese enough to pass its possoble that by taking the exam right after the failed one you would have passed so I think its starter to study for N1 and take the N1 exam