These are the ones I’ve found:
http://www.tanos.co.uk/jlpt/extras/books/#byleveln3

I find it impressive that you can write 400 kanji when you know 500 in total; that is a nice ratio. For me, it’s something like I can read 2500-3000 kanji and write 100-200… :-S so very passive-oriented.

It sounds like you are on a good track to pass JLPT n3… and I agree that it’s kinda cool to take the new level the first time it’s offered. I almost want to go and take n1 just to see how it is…

Henrik

Thanks for your answer. I agree with you about the strategy to follow. Here is my study plan :

- I noticed that the japanese langage textbooks consider that there are 500-600 “elementary” level kanji (e.g. Bonjinsha’s “Elementary Kanji book” in 2 volumes covers 500 kanjis, the kanji volumes from the “Shin Nihongo no Kiso” textbook give about 600 kanjis. So I want to focus heavily on these kanjis, and add something like 100-200 kanjis from the most frequently used kanji lists you can find in many kanji dictionnaries. I consider I know something like 400-500 kanjis (I mean reading 500 and writing 400) for the time being, and – in my case at least – it’s not realistic hoping to learn more than 300 kanjis in 10 months…

- about the grammar, I had the same approach as yours : I take level 2 grammar classes, I think learning around 170 grammar points is something feasible during the same period.

- the most annoying point is the vocabulary : if you want to do it in a coherent and scientific way , best would be to take a JLPT2 vocabulary list, and select words built only with kanjis from your “home-made” N3 list.
Maybe transferring a JLPT2 vocabulary list under Excel format on Access would be a quick way ( I mean if you selected 700 kanjis from 1000, you just have to eliminate words containing at least one of the 300 kanjis you didn’t take on your list) but I have no idea how Access would react if asked to process to japanese characters…:o)

I ll probably take N3, because I have no real chance passing N2, and …also because I think that for the first edition of the new test, JLPT people will be especially cautious , and won’t design a too difficult exam…

Best regards

Jean

Jean,

Yes, I would have expected them to have released a test content specification for n3 by now, at least to the major publishers…
But no, all we can do is, as you mention, questimate based on the (archetypically Japanese) vague information on their web site.

If I were to aim for N3 this year, I would study for the N2. If you score close to 50% on a mock N2 test, then I bet you will pass the N3. But of course, if the purpose of your studies is explicitly to pass the N3 test, then that will be rather inefficient since you’d want to study exactly the items that can appear on the test. If your goal is to become fluent in Japanese, then you won’t lose much by studying for the N2 directly; just skip the parts you consider so hard that they’re blocking your immediate progress.

Anyway, thanks for your comment and good luck if you’re taking any of the levels, and best regards,
Henrik

You seem to forget an important point : JLPT N3 is a new level, the only useful thing we know is that it’s located “somewhere between” N4 (old JLPT3) and N2 (old JLPT2).
For those levels, nothing really changes, you can more or less keep as a reference the kanji , vocabulary, grammar points lists edited for JLPT3 and JLPT2. But nothing similar exists for N3 !
The indications given on official JLPT site are in my opinion totally useless for practical purposes. You had to know about 300 kanjis for old JLPT3, around 1000 for JLPT2, how much for N3, and which ones ? Nobody knows. About grammar, I prepare for N3, should I just take the first half of my JLPT2 (old) grammar book ;o) …
I am taking lessons at a japanese online language school , the teachers there are completely lost about what they should teach in N3 preparation courses.
I think you won’t see anything published about N3 before the first actual test !
Best regards !

I pass the jlpt4 in 2008, I hop for the jlpt3 in 2010
(2009 was not a good year !), then the new N3 !

Cyril