Several months ago I decided to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. For those of you who don’t know, it tests japanese listening and reading ability. The test is divided in to 3 sections: kanji (chinese characters) and vocabulary, listening comprehension, reading and grammar. The test has four levels. Four being the lowest and one is the highest. I took level 2. I should note that the test will change next year and will have more levels and a slightly different format from what I understand.
I got to the test site just in time. About 2 minutes after I walked in they started the instructions and checked if everyone who is who they are supposed to be. I guess in the past they have had instances of people taking the test for other people. The rules seemed pretty strict, but it really depends on the proctor that is giving it and how they decide to enforce. In my room the guy asked people to put their little cases of pencil lead in their bag. I heard from another person that after the test was over her proctor announced some numbers of the people taking the test and said they failed because they didn’t turn off their phone. However in another room the guy I talked with said that the person in front of him, had their cell phone start buzzing and nothing happened. According to the rules you are supposed to get a yellow card for most infractions which is a warning and a red card gets your kicked out.
The first part of the test was kanji and vocabulary. That was pretty easy. I spent a lot of time studying kanji. In this past few months I increased my vocabulary by about 1000 words by just studying kanji. There was only a few outright guesses and several questionable problems where I was not sure which the answer after I omitted the obviously wrong ones.
After the first part of the test was over there was a break and everyone had to leave the classroom. While I was outside I started a conversation with, Chaka and Patrick, a couple of guys who were in my test room. We talked for a bit then went back in for round two: listening.
Listening is broken in to 2 parts. The first part you listen to a conversation and then choose the picture they were talking about. It goes by really fast. One of the problems I had was that I couldn’t tell the difference between a couple of the pictures. It was pretty tough. There was not enough time to focus on the the subtle differences. A girl I was talking to after told me that you have to reset your mind right after you answer a question. If you don’t you will miss the next one. The second part is just listening and choosing the right answer. That was hard because they make it tricky.
Listening was the worst part. I was thinking about it and wondered why it was so hard for me. I watch tv and understand it pretty well. After giving it some thought I came to a conclusion about it. First when I watch tv a lot of programs will have something similar to closed captions. It’s not really closed caption but like a summary of what they are saying. Usually I’m reading that while I listen. For the programs that don’t have that I understand by listening and watching their actions. I’m not just eavesdropping on a conversation like the test recordings. Also I am interested in what the people on TV are saying. If the program is boring, I change to something more interesting. The test matter was pretty boring. In life you don’t really ever have to choose an answer based on a question about the content of what you are hearing.
After the listening part was over it was time for lunch. I met up with Chaka and Patrick and a few of their friends. I am so glad I brought my lunch. Almost everyone in the group I was chatting with at lunch did. One guy didn’t and went to Lawson to get something. He was gone for about 40 minutes. He said it was crazy in the store and the lines were long.
After lunch it was time for the last part, reading and grammar. The reading section was long. A few of the questions were easy. The short passages were not to difficult and the longs ones were tricky. The statistics question was pretty difficult. I had no idea what was being asked in it. The grammar section wasn’t that bad. It just seemed like a race against the clock. I don’t know what the last 3 questions were when I got to them the time announcement came on, while it was speaking i just filled in 2 for the last 3.
I have to say the experience was really enjoyable. The most fun I ever had taking a test. I think the best part was that I got to meet some cool. It was also nice to see that I suck at taking standardized tests in a foreign language still! I think I will aim for 1kyu next year regardless if pass or fail level 2.
