Took the N2 again because my company requested!
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Rather off topic, but I saw your avatar in the ‘latest’ list and had to say how delightful it is (love the username too!).
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Sushi and cats!
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Congratulations!
If you earn a passing score, do you have to PAY for a certificate? The JLPT website said it only sends a score report.
No, you do not have to pay extra to get a certificate. You pay to take the test in the first place.
EDIT: I see that there’s a paid option to have certificates sent out at 1000 yen a pop, but I would presume that’s for extra ones. Though I haven’t passed a JLPT in about 3 years now, so maybe they changed something. But when I applied for the JET program I had a certificate to give them in my application without ever paying for one from JLPT.
EDIT 2: Yeah, they have this on the site
Score Report and Certificate of Proficiency
All examinees will receive their own Score Report. Successful examinees will receive a Certificate of Proficiency.
No “just” about it! Passing N5 is a real achievement! And what a great score! 167/180! Congratulations!
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Thanks, you are right, it is something to be happy about too. Congratulations to you too! 
I tend to think (too far?) ahead most of the time and given that it took me a year to get to N5 it is a bit humbling to think how much effort will be needed if I ever want to pass N1 since the difficulty rises so much between the levels. But one step at a time.
Now on to N4 
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Got mine! I started learning Nihongo last year of June. N2 this December! Yay! 
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Is the main reason to take the test just to put the score on your resume? For employment in japan I mean. Or are most people using it as an actual measure of progress? I’m always scared of being taught how to defeat a test as opposed to actually learning a language.
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As suspected, failed
just didn’t have the grammar. Now to decide whether to try again this December or skip this for N3 next year
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As fully expected I failed N4. Not by much but still. Listening killed me and grammar was not great. But I’m happy I tried and at least know the format better now. Might try again at some point - it’s a pity they don’t do the December test in my location, so the earliest is next July.
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I don’t see an issue with people taking the exam to maintain motivation and see if they’ve improved. You don’t have to use any JLPT-specific resources to pass the tests.
Considering that anything below N2 is basically useless on a resume (to apply for a Japanese company, as opposed to a university program or something), most people are definitely not using it for that purpose.
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It is like people running a marathon: nothing concrete that will come of it. But if it gives you something to prepare for in a strictured way and motivates you to stay on track with things that you wanted to do anyway then I think it is a good thing.
I would definitely be even more lazy with grammar if it wasn’t for the JLPT. There are other aspects that I enjoy more but neither sport not learning a language is 100% fun all of the time.
Also, working toward a distant goal can be a bit abstract and demotivating. So having the JLPT to measure progress is nice too.
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Same boat here… Very humbling. After one year and half of study I barely passed N4. At this point, I think I poured more effort into Japanese than anything I did at University, for example, 10 years ago, for a mediocre result, so it’s a bit scary ^^’
“A vocabulary” and “A grammar” resulting in awful text comprehension is the entire story of my Japanese study so far. I’m doing OK on short drill and exercise, but in real text, as soon as sentences get longer and more involved, I’m drowning.
I’m suspecting that the root cause is actually grammar. it’s good enough or I can guess good enough to do OK on grammar exercises, but it’s probably too shaky and not internalized enough for actual text. On longer sentences I’m often compounding guesses over guesses and my comprehension collapse in a maze of dozen possible interpretations…
I’m not sure how to fix it. I have tried the “READ MORE” advice often given, but then it just result in more of this fog of half-understood sentences, gross misinterpretations and swamp of “maybe it means that”. It’s a bit demoralizing.
Anyway, I’m moving to japan in September and will start language school here ! I’m hoping that immersion and intense focus will overcome !
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Ah yes, that sounds all so very familiar…
Oh, that is great. I’m sure if you just keep at it you will improve given those circumstances.
We will get there, we’ll just need patience and perseverance.
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This summer was my first time taking the JLPT. Passed the N3 like I thought I would (just based on how comfortable most test questions felt), but it’s still a relief to not have to keep sweating whether I somehow got tripped up enough to miss it. Weirdly, during practice reading was one of my strongest sections, and listening my weakest.
Also, is anyone else having trouble ordering the certificate? When I click the “certificate issue” button, it just gives me the following. There’s no checkbox for me to click.
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It’s not available yet… but as discussed above, you get one if you pass. No need to order another.
I believe people generally use that for sending one to another location, like a school or job.
Ah, okay. I thought the mail results would have beaten the online ones and that maybe it wasn’t automatic. Should have checked the conversation above first.